Fallen Legends
by GreySilhouette
Summary: When Anakin does not find Ventress and Ahsoka is found guilty and sentenced to death, Obi-Wan Kenobi interferes and breaks her out, unable to stand by and let such a travesty of justice take place. The Council complicates matters by jumping to conclusions, and while Obi-Wan and Ahsoka attempt to find out the truth of what happened, Barriss is planning to set off another bomb...
1. A Trial and a Decision

Chapter 1: A Trial and a Decision

"By an overwhelming majority, this court finds Ahsoka Tano guilty of treason, sedition against the Republic, the murder of Letta Turmond, conspiracy to commit mass murder, escaping republic military custody, the murders of several clone soldiers…"

The arms of his chair were cold under his hands. An observer's seat; opposite the row of politicians who held military ranks but had never spent even an hour on the front lines, but who got a vote on the matter. Not that it would have made a difference if he had had a seat. Majority vote. _Come on Anakin, where are you? _If there was ever a moment for a last minute rescue…

They were onto the sentencing now. Tarkin, of course, was pushing for the death sentence. As he'd promised. Padme was opposing him, but by the looks of things she didn't know what to push for instead, and was fighting a losing battle. How like a politician, assuming things would just go her way. How like _Padme_. Not planning for the worst was a foolish risk to take, and it was his grand-Padawan that was paying the price for her recklessness.

"Sentenced to death, at the beginning of the next working day."

And it was over.

Ahsoka stood there, on the platform, eyes fixed on the ground in front of her. He looked to the entrances. No last minute reprisal suddenly appeared. No rescue, nothing that would overturn this travesty of justice. The platform drifted over to some guards – military, not Jedi – who roughly herded the girl into their midst.

She offered no resistance, and his chest twinged painfully.

"Obi-Wan."

He looked up, and saw that the other members of the Jedi High Council were already leaving. Mace was peering at him.

Obi-Wan reminded himself that it was against Republic law to lock everyone in the courtroom and argue until they came around to a more reasonable point of view, and that it would be ethically questionable besides. He followed his colleague out.

They took one of the Temple airspeeders back, Ki-Adi driving. Kit was in the other front seat. Obi-Wan watched the lanes of traffic. Habit ensured he automatically scanned for any suspicious activity, yet he wasn't really paying attention.

"Interesting that they didn't question her about the terrorist group she was a part of, once they found her guilty," Kit broke the silence. Obi-Wan swallowed, jerked back to the present.

"You believe she is truly guilty, then?"

His word earned him a couple of slightly pitying looks, and a pair of narrowed eyes from Mace. "The verdict was never really in doubt, Obi-Wan. You saw the evidence with the rest of us."

Yes. Yes, he had seen it, and wondered if they were so blinded by the veil of blood that these days he could sometimes feel settling onto and into his skin, see clouding his vision to a haze, that they did not notice the discrepancies. The "co-incidence" of the sound cutting out, at that particular time, in that particular cell, and the fact that no one who could read lips had been called in for the trail, for example. Or that neither she nor Ventress had seriously hurt the clones that had cornered them, at Ahsoka's choice, according to the recordings from the Clone's helmets. (Which had also not been presented. He didn't even know what had happened to it.) True, it could be an odd version of good CorSec, bad CorSec, without the CorSec and with terrorists; staged to make Ahsoka look good, but it hadn't felt that way. And the very fact that it hadn't been brought up argued against that theory.

He couldn't bring it up now, though. He already had, and they hadn't been persuaded: convinced the evidence outweighed his arguments: convinced he just didn't want to believe and was grasping at straws and refusing to see.

She was most likely innocent. He wasn't sure: he knew all too well how war could change people, and he'd not really seen her in months. It only took one experience that was slightly worse than normal. But…most likely…

"Yes, I saw it."

There was a slight, collective sigh as some of the tension went out of the three.

Kit went on. "It seems a bit…odd. Next morning, no interrogation? I'd almost say rushed."

"She is a former Jedi," Ki-Adi mused. "It is possible that they are more concerned with stopping her from escaping and causing more damage. She has already done so once."

"The only reason they waited until tomorrow is the half day notice required for the public for any execution." Mace's rumbling voice filled Obi-Wan's ears. "Otherwise they would have done it on the spot. Less risk to everyone."

Jedi Masters had enough self-control and perspective to not punch senior Council members in the face. Obi-wan took a deep breath, and released the thought. He could see where Mace was coming from. The thought of a fallen Jedi free to wreak havoc on whomever – the military – the Jedi Order - the_ civilians_ – was horrific at best. And the Sith were recruiting any Darksiders, making them more dangerous and unleashing them on the Republic. He understood. But the system failed her, the people in the system had failed her, and there was a good chance she was innocent.

Even if she wasn't…the Temple hanger was a legitimate, military target. The terrorists were looking to protest against the war, from what the Jedi knew of them. Their methods were deplorable, but they were the actions of someone who had not lost their ideals, only had them severely twisted. Redeemable, possibly. The chance should have been given.

"Give my condolences to Anakin," Ki-Adi told him, as they got out of the speeder in one of the hangers that hadn't been blown up. "I imagine he'll take this hard. And," he hesitated, "I'm sorry for your loss. I know you were rather fond of the child."

_Jedi do not feel loss. We release our emotions into the Force_. Obi-Wan just nodded. "I will whenever I see him." He allowed himself a small sigh, born of pure weariness. "If you'll excuse me. I need to meditate."

Ki-Adi gently pushed his shoulder in the direction of the sleeping/meditation areas.

.

His meditation was…unproductive. It took him a long time to find his centre. Longer to slip into a true meditation. And even when he did, and was immersed in the Force's light, he received no answers to the questions he asked. The Force was silent, and not the silence of communication being blocked, as was unfortunately increasingly common. It was the silence of choosing not to say anything, and that left Obi-Wan pacing around the small room in deep thought. His life belonged to the Force. It was simple fact. He would do whatever it asked of him, no matter the consequences to himself. But this was almost like he was being prompted to make his own decision on the matter of what to do.

Anakin was certain his wayward Padawan was innocent. Obi-Wan thought that was likely, and even if that was not the case, he would far prefer redemption to execution, as a method of solving problems. He didn't want her to die. It didn't feel like her time, the whole thing felt wrong. But what could he do about it? He was just one member of the Council, and his opinion hadn't counted for much of anything when they had voted on whether to place politics or Jedi policies first in their priorities.

He doubted the rest of the Council would see it that way. A choice between turning over a terrorist and murderer for trial, or protecting her and incurring the suspicion of their allies, that was what it had been presented as – but politics or Jedi policy was what it was when you got down to it.

He didn't feel she should die. She was scheduled to be executed early in the morning.

So…

He stopped, staring out the window. The sunset was beautiful, if you found the sky being painted with the colour of blood beautiful. Blood. Innocent blood was to be protected: that was one of the first lessons he had learned. Innocent people were to be protected. A Jedi worked within the local law system wherever possible, because that caused less problems for everyone, but there were times when that was not possible. But the Republic had always been the organization the Jedi sheltered under, content with the system it had in place. The system that was clearly not working in this case.

He rubbed his fingertips around his temples, feeling a headache start to form. The logical conclusion was that he should prevent her from being executed, whether or not the law agreed with him. She was now, thanks to her conviction, legally guilty, which would make things difficult.

_Treat this like a normal mission. What would you do if a charge of yours was being held pending execution and the people holding them were not open to negotiation?_

He would find a way to get them out.

It was so simple, so breathtakingly obvious, that the idea froze him as he struggled with whether to discard it out of hand – or not. On one hand, it was astoundingly illegal. Even Qui-Gon Jinn, the infamous maverick, his former Master, had always operated with respect to the Republic's laws. And Qui-Gon Jinn had had a similar attitude to potential Dark Jedi as Mace did to actual Dark Jedi.

But on the other, it was the right thing to do. And that far outweighed what he knew Qui-Gon would have thought. It even outweighed the law.

Anakin would be chomping at the bit once he heard what had happened in the courtroom. He wouldn't be able to stop his former Padawan once he got the idea into his head anyway. He could cover for Anakin as long as possible - no point in both of them going when one could cover the other's back, working within the Jedi to find where any evidence (_true_ evidence) was, and Obi-Wan could do that far better than Anakin could with his position on the Council.

He gone along with the Council, stayed through this travesty because he felt that was where he could do the most good, the same as he had when he'd accepted the position in the first place. Felt that, if he waited for the right opportunity, he could still do that. Hoped, believed, that it would all turn out okay, without something drastic.

And it hadn't.

So it was time for drastic measures. Such as breaking a former Jedi convicted of terrorism and murder who may or not be guilty of those crimes out of a Republic prison and finding out what had actually happened.

It was_ reckless_. What in the Galaxy would they do if she was guilty, and/or decided not to cooperate? Her record throughout this affair was not precisely spotless, and breaking out of prison hadn't exactly been helpful, given Anakin had had to drop investigating to chase her down. And what if she was innocent, and they couldn't find proof? How would Anakin even get her out of there?

He didn't know. All he knew was that if he didn't do something, he would not be able to call himself a Jedi in good conscience ever again.


	2. Anakin's Return

Chapter 2: Anakin's Return

It was the earlier hours of the evening when Anakin Skywalker returned to the Jedi Temple, his shoulders slumped. He'd failed. Failed to find Ventress and knock just what had happened with her and Ahsoka out of the witch, failed to find any useful information that might lead to his Padawan, his brilliant, annoying, innocent Padawan, being spared.

He ignored the sympathetic glance Jurokk sent his way as he entered the main door of the Temple, barely noticing it. It had come over the billboards while he was still down there. Former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano had been sentenced to death.

It wasn't fair. At all. Ahsoka wouldn't have done it, couldn't they see that? The Council had just sat there, watching impassively, as an innocent was broken down and torn apart and told she would be executed, right before their eyes. The Jedi Council. The supposed wisest beings in the Galaxy.

Damn them all to some Sith hell.

A slight pang of guilt knocked at his conscience as he remembered his master's torn expression, the telling glance that had accompanied Yoda's proclamation of the Council's "not unanimous" decision to cast her out, but he was in no mood to make forgiving exceptions. Obi-Wan had been there too, and he had done nothing.

Even if there was nothing he could have done. Even if Anakin knew that, just as he knew that he had failed to do something himself.

It wasn't fair. Ahsoka was brilliant, already better at adhering to the Jedi code that he was – not that he wanted to. That would have denied him Padme. He dwelt for a moment on the memory of her soft skin beneath his fingers, his lips devouring hers…but even that was denied to him, by the memory of her pale, shocked face on the lined, grainy screen, as they showed the courtroom.

He punched a wall, leaving a smear of blood. A passing maintenance droid twittered in alarm. Ahsoka was better than this, shouldn't have to die like this. She was innocent, no matter what Tarkin and his cronies said about her. He knew her. She wouldn't have betrayed the Jedi, betrayed him, this way.

He was sure of it.

He found himself letting himself into Obi-Wan's quarters. They were the same ones he had had when Anakin had been his Padawan; he was here so rarely that he just hadn't bothered to, or had time to move out and into the quarters reserved for Master's, instead of this set of Knights quarters. It was all very neat, everything organized and in its place. No more droid parts littering the floor. No more knocked over piles of datapads littering the surfaces. How very Obi-Wan.

Anakin flopped down on the couch, not bothering to leave again. He had mixed memories of this place, but Obi-Wan had, generally, been there for him. Within the bounds of the Jedi code, at any rate. He shuddered to think what his uptight, by the book former master would have thought of some of the rule breaking Anakin got up to behind his back. Thankfully, Obi-Wan would never find out. Anakin would make sure of it. He wouldn't understand, he'd been raised in the Temple, no attachments drummed into his skull from the moment he first passed through the doors. That had happened to Anakin too, but he'd been older, able to hide what he felt instead of having a part of who he was utterly erased. He had been older, different. Special, they said. Better, they meant. The prophecy said so. And because he was better; he'd surpassed Obi-Wan in power in his teens. And Obi-Wan was one of the most powerful Jedi in the Order, on par with Master Windu.

He groaned and rolled over to a more comfortable part of the couch. The springs in the middle, where he had flopped, had been worn down by years of Anakin's abuse of them, and lately Ahsoka doing the same thing, mostly when Anakin was sent out on a mission that even he agreed was too dangerous for a Padawan and Obi-Wan was in the Temple.

Hurried footsteps filled the corridor, and he felt Obi-Wan's presence approaching. A moment later, the door slid open, and Obi-Wan's voice sounded behind him. "Don't you think that poor couch has been subjected to enough from you over the years?"

Not the criticism already. He ignored the joking undertone in the Council member's irritated voice. How could Obi-Wan joke at a time like this? Would he be like Luminara on Geonosis, telling Anakin to let go even when Ahsoka wasn't dead yet, accepting her Padawan's death even when there was still a chance to save them? _Of course he would. He's the perfect Jedi, while you're just the dangerous, different, outsider._

"Not in the mood," he growled, and felt more than heard Obi-Wan's sigh as he moved, to put on a pot of tea, Anakin knew. That was the first thing Obi-Wan did when Anakin was stressed: make tea. He claimed it was soothing, though Anakin had yet to notice any such effect from any of the tea's his master kept stocked in neat little tins in the kitchen.

Only, the door that opened was the one to Obi-Wan's room, not the one to the kitchen.

Blinking, Anakin hauled himself up.

Obi-Wan was pulling a set of Mandalorian armour out of his closet.

Plonking his chin on the back of the couch, Anakin stared. "Er, is there any particular reason for that?"

"Oh no, none at all," came the venomously light reply. "I just thought now might be a good time to check it was in working shape is all."

The venom didn't seem to be directed at him. Anakin wondered what had annoyed Obi-Wan quite so much that he was actually showing it, while he waited for a moment. Then, when it still made no sense, he tried again. "When did you get that anyway?"

Obi-Wan's movements almost seemed to falter for an instant, but it was gone before Anakin could be sure. "My last trip to Mandalore."

Ah. Right. Okay then, moving on swiftly – "And why would now be a good time to get it out?"

"As I said," the irritatingly light voice replied almost cheerily. "Absolutely no reason at all."

Exhausted, stressed, despairing and utterly bewildered, Anakin watched as Obi-Wan methodically checked the armour over. It was missing the helmet, and a jetpack, and the blaster holsters were empty, but otherwise it seemed to be a full, functional set. Eventually, curiosity overrode irritation. "Where's the rest of it?"

"The helmet and sidearms I lost when I was temporarily captured by Maul," and there it was again; that almost falter that Anakin wasn't sure wasn't a product of his currently bent-out-of-shape brain. "The jetpack was confiscated by Council and given to one of the GAR's R & D teams."

"And…"

Obi-Wan finished checking for any damage that he might have missed while wearing it on the way back from Mandalore. "And nothing."

"O-kay…" Deciding to press more later, Anakin changed the subject. "Where were you before?"

He swore he saw Obi-Wan's lips thin by a millimeter. "Council meeting. They called it to `discuss the fallout of the trial`."

It was as though the despair-dampened fires inside his head had just re-ignited themselves and were roaring indignantly. "Discuss the fallout!? She's going to die, Obi-Wan, just because the kriffing Council couldn't get their heads out of their ass's long enough to see that she's vaping well innocent! Die! Be executed!" Obi-Wan watched with a calm, inscrutable expression. Anakin let out an almost scream of frustration. "Does that mean nothing to you?"

"It means rather a lot actually," Obi-Wan offered, as Anakin stood there panting, the flames suddenly doused by the look Obi-Wan had given him. "Though," and his nostrils flared in irritation, "I wouldn't do anything if I were you. The Council has voted to keep a watch on you to make sure you don't `overreact and do something stupid`." The skin around his eyes tightened, then they lit up with that odd cheeriness again. Baffled, Anakin stared at him. "Like, say, breaking her out of there during the night."

Anakin blinked. Stared. Then he exploded into motion, striding over and seizing Obi-Wan by the shoulders hard enough that anyone else would have winced. "I could do that!" His voice was an awed, hushed whisper, like a drowning man presented with air to breathe. "I could get in there, rescue her – "

"My first thought. But no. You won't."

What?! Obi-Wan couldn't do this to him, he couldn't, not when he'd just had an idea, a way out of this mess, a way to ensure Ahsoka lived –

Obi-Wan smiled gently up at him. "After all," he continued blithely, "you are being watched. And tailed." He paused. "They'd know the moment you did something. Probably tailed you on your way to these rooms."

Distracted, Anakin made a face. "Yeah right. If you came here right after a Council meeting, they wouldn't have had time to put a tail on me yet." He stopped. Obi-Wan was still smiling. "What?"

"I didn't," Obi-Wan explained, an innocent look on his face. "I took a detour." That said, he walked back to the still-out armour. "You should go to a dojo. Get some practice done. Work out some of your emotions in a frowned upon but still acceptable manner." Anakin looked at him in bewilderment, too confused to even get angry again. It was obvious that Obi-wan was up to something. That he was trying to tell Anakin what it was without saying, which was –"This is ridiculous. Just tell me what you're doing."

Obi-Wan sighed, and reached behind him to take out the food capsule he had clipped to the sides of his belt, hidden by his robe. He slid them onto the belt of the armour. "Plausible deniability. This way you can say that I didn't tell you anything, and it will be the complete truth. They'll sense that."

_They_…"You're not doing the-thing-that-you're-plausibly-deniably-not-doing for the Council then?"

"No, Anakin."

Obi-Wan reached behind his back again, pulling out three lightsabers and two shoto. Anakin goggled. "_Why - ?_"

"Spares," Obi-Wan answered in a tone that suggested that it should have been perfectly obvious. And reasonable. Then he clipped his own lightsaber alongside them.

Obi-Wan used one lightsaber, Ahsoka used a lightsaber and shoto. Two lightsabers and one shoto, four lightsabers and two shoto. Spares. It was reasonable. Given Ahsoka had lost her shoto in the escape, and had had her lightsaber some distance from her side when he and his men had found her. He wished he never had, that she'd been able to find something. She had found something, in the nano droids, but it had just made her look guiltier. He swallowed. "Can't I h-"

"Anakin." Obi-Wan shrugged off his long brown robe and walked over to him. "The moment you do something suspicious, the Sentinels will swarm all over you. You wouldn't get far enough to help her, and the attempt would put them on alert and jeopardize any other hypothetical rescue. Go to the dojo. Practice, and lose track of time. And…" he hesitated, face twisting, conflict in his eyes. Then he seemed to reach a decision. "And remember Anakin, no matter what happens with this, that I am proud of you."

Anakin stood, stunned at the unexpected, unexpectedly peace-inducing words. Obi-Wan gently pushed him to the door. "Dojo." He reminded him firmly, the moment gone, the emotion once more hidden. "Don't worry about me." He smiled again, his eyes bright with that unexpected rebellion. He wondered why he hadn't recognised it before, and decided it was probably because it was not the sort of thing anyone had ever expected from Obi-Wan Kenobi. "And do try to look despondent, would you? After all, your former Padawan is to be executed in the morning, and she has no hope of you pulling off a rescue."

No hope of him pulling off a rescue, perhaps. But he apparently wasn't the only one willing to risk the effort. And it was probably better this way – Obi-Wan was the Council's darling. Their youngest member; their shining star; their hope for the future. They wouldn't kick him out of the Order like they would Anakin, should he do this. It would sort of defeat the point of proving her innocence so she could come back if Anakin wasn't there to train her. And it wasn't like Obi-wan hadn't done things like this before, breaking people out of the Separatist bases, which were as secure as the facility where Ahsoka was being held. Obi-Wan could do it. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka could do it. And if the best way to help them was to sit tight in the Temple and be a good boy, then, well…he would put up with it. And train, so he could get stronger, so he wouldn't be left, helpless, powerless, to do anything. So he wouldn't have to rely on Obi-Wan to rescue his, Anakin's, Padawan.

**Next Chapter: Checking in with Ventress.**


	3. Resolutions

Chapter 3: Resolutions

Asajj Ventress stalked silently through the undercity of Coruscant with a scowl on her face, not really focusing on where she was going, not fighting the nudges from the Force only because she was not actually noticing them, occupied with brooding as she was.

It had been announced through the billboards that littered the city. Ahsoka Tano, the bomber of the Jedi Temple, was to be executed as sun-up at the Republic Senate.

Well, she'd tried.

Whoever the real bomber was had done a good job. If that was who was framing her. Sidious was hidden somewhere in the high ranks of the Republic's lumbering cogs, and might very well be involved. Asajj wished she had caught a glimpse of whoever it was that had attacked her, that might have given her a clue as to who it was.

That was another thing! It wasn't enough for this, the one time she had attempted to do some good in so long, to end in utter failure, but the unknown Jedi who had attacked her and knocked her out – leaving her lying there in plain sight, so vulnerable she really didn't want to think about what could have happened – had taken her lightsabers! And her helmet, but she could get another easily enough. For a short time, she would be fine without it. None of the other bounty hunters around here were skilled enough to take her on, and they knew it. By the time word might have started to spread about her location, she could have found another and uprooted herself.

Her lightsabers were not so replaceable. She knew how to make one, though it had been long ago and she wasn't sure how to adapt that which she knew to make a curved hilt. There was probably some secret design that the Jedi refused to share with the Galaxy because it might be "dangerous" to have people other than the Jedi themselves with any knowledge of lightsabers. Dangerous for the non-Jedi with that knowledge, of course, not the Jedi, how could anyone have ever thought they meant that…

Sanctimonious bastards.

But yes, the lightsaber was doable. The problem was the crystals.

She didn't have any. And she had no idea how to get some. Jedi had some super-secret source where they gathered crystals, the name of which she vaguely remembered being mentioned once and beginning with an I, and the Sith forged red crystals with their minds, which Tyranus had never taught her. And there were no handy crystals lying around nearby, unless you counted the Jedi Temple, which was really more trouble than it was worth to break into. Too many Jedi there, even for her to deal with. She supposed she could set off another bomb, but so far they –and everyone else - didn't seem to be bothering with the ex-Separatist war criminal when they had a rouge Jedi to gasp and goggle at. That would change if she did something that linked her to the original Temple bombing. Pity, really: the Jedi could use some shaking up. And some waking up to a reality where people were not in automatic awe of them anymore, if they wanted to survive past the Clone wars.

There was a part of her that would watch quite happily as they went down in flames. In the Sith, betrayal was expected, a part of life. She'd just…not seen that clearly at the time. The little togruta had had a point though, when she said they were similar. Ventress had been tossed aside by the Sith to make way for a larger (political) agenda, while Tano had been tossed away by the Jedi to make way for a larger (political) agenda. People expected that of the Sith. If you didn't, you were stupid or naïve or wilfully blind. They didn't expect that of the Jedi.

Then again, the Jedi were being pretty much run by the Senate these days, and the Senate was being run by Darth Sidious. She shouldn't be surprised they were starting to pick up Sithly behavioural patterns.

There was some sort of gathering up ahead, in one of the buildings, which was radiating nervous tension of a sort she often sensed in her targets when they realized a Bounty Hunter was after them. She'd need money to get her hands on the parts to build her replacements, so she checked out the numerous beings who all seemed to feel they were being hunted. There might be bounties on them; she could check later. Later: once she had them tied up and knocked out, to be precise.

Except, as she crept into the building and crawled into the space in the floor structure between the ceiling and the floors of each level and lay on a beam, peering through a gash in the tiles – old style Coruscanti, got to appreciate anything that made her job this easy – she forgot all about bounties.

There was a holographic symbol being projected behind the person standing up at the front ranting to the assembled audience. It didn't take her long to place it as the same symbol that some of the protesters outside the Temple had used, in the bomb's aftermath. It was the person's words that really caught her attention, though, even as she identified it as _probably male, speaking in Rodian._

"Our first strike has gone even better than planned, and the Jedi and senates' reaction of scapegoating an innocent instead of investigating only proves just how far the Jedi have fallen since their days as peacekeepers; only shows how corrupt the senate has become that they would participate in this. We are that much closer to stopping the war, by exposing the Jedi for the hypocrites they have become, dragging out the war with one of their former members so they can hang onto the power the conflict has granted them! We must keep going, build momentum, keep striking! There is another strike planned, the location as yet unknown, but it will be at the Jedi, I assure you. Feel out everyone you know, see how open they are to our movement. While the Jedi are glorifying themselves in the media, people are dying on the battlefields they create, from the clones they created to fight the war for them, to the civilians they uncaringly trap in the crossfire! We will not stand for it! We will fight this oppression with everything we are! We are the Active Gathering Against the War!"

They appeared to be wrapping up. Asajj watched, eyes slightly wider than normal, as the gathering took up the chant, transforming it into a howl of "Won't. Stand. For. it! Fight Je-di Op-ress-ion! No war! No war! No war!" Evidently, this was a regular way to end a meeting.

They thought the Jedi were oppressing them now? She wondered what they would think if the Sith succeeded in taking over the Galaxy and transformed it into their reborn Empire, as Tyranus had told her they planned to, the remnants of the Jedi Order moulded into the start of a new Sith Brotherhood. Call it a gut feeling from having been around the universe, but she suspected this group would respond by just howling louder and packing more explosives.

Shaking her head, she waited as the crowd dispersed, and once she was sure there was no one there, she wriggled back out of her hiding place and entered the room. Her lips thinned in grim un-surprise as she surveyed the room: they had been organized, and there was nothing of any use that had been left. Oh, well.

And her lightsabers weren't there. There was no reason they would be, but she'd checked anyway.

Ideas started to form. She wouldn't have to put her rusty lightsaber designing skills to the test after all: she could just get her own lightsabers back from the Jedi who was insane enough to take up socializing with this lot. She just had to find out who it was and where they were being kept.

And if she got in a bit of revenge for the little togruta who was in a position so painfully like hers but hadn't escaped, who had been deceived by one of her colleagues into thinking one of her only allies (Asajj herself, obviously,) had betrayed her, and exposed to the Jedi Order the guilt-inducing details of just what they had done, well…that would just be a bonus.

.

He left an imprint of his Force signature in his rooms, and then shielded his Force signature as though drifting away into sleep. Once he was sure he was successful, he disappeared from the Force as best he could, drawing on everything he had learned from the various lessons, both scholarly and improvised in the field, which he had had on the subject over the years.

That was an interesting exercise in itself. He was better at defending his signature from the onslaught of various incarnations of the Dark side, armouring it into a difficult-to-reach beacon, not concealing it. On low-key missions, he had generally relied on muting it and not using the Force much, until things inevitably exploded into a last minute fight against disaster.

Leaving the imprint of his muted, apparently sleeping Force signature in his rooms - strange as it felt, being able to sense his own signature in a different place than he actually was - he crept through the back hallways of the Temple, avoiding other Jedi. While he might manage to blend into a crowd, given he was wearing his robe closed, concealing the armour he had on under it, anyone he ran into would sense his lack of a signature and look close enough to notice that he wasn't dressed as a Jedi. His reputation might allow him to talk his way out of it, but it would take time.

Time was something Ahsoka really didn't have. Or rather, she did: but only about five hours of it.

Breathing controlled, heart thumping loudly in his ears, he slipped into the back of a small hanger, and discreetly checked out one of the more nondescript cars by remote. It would register his name and the false destination (500 Republica) that he put in, but that wouldn't raise any alarms. He often went over there when he was on Coruscant, to discuss security matters with Bail. Bail was on Alderaan right now, though, and laid up with a nasty lung infection, or something of the sort. Some sort of illness, anyway. The report that reached the front lines had been curt and sketchy.

No turning back now. He wouldn't have, but it caused a lurch in his stomach to pass beyond the point where he could just decide that actually, this was a terrible idea, and he'd decided not to go through with it after all. Even now, he supposed, he could go to 500 Republica and claim that in his tiredness, he'd missed the fact that Senator Organa wasn't there.

As soon as he was out of the Temple's traffic direct traffic monitor range, he landed and hot-wired the speeder, switching his destination to the temporary holding facility where Ahsoka was and disabling the tracking feature that was now coded to alert the Temple that a Jedi vehicle was going there, which was one of the other precautions that the Council had agreed on in that surprise meeting.

It had been nerve-wracking, concealing his intentions from the other eleven members. And his shock when he realised they were going to insist on putting Anakin under surveillance, and that the only option was to do it himself, which would have less chances of working than if it had been Anakin to break her out with him helping at the Temple. The worst part was that he literally couldn't let it be nerve-wracking: the others would sense it in the Force. (He had already been glad Kit had just been deployed back to the front, and so could not sense his pheromone levels.) He'd had to draw on the Force quite a bit, which of course had also caught their attention, but he'd been able to explain that the recent events had "disturbed his equilibrium" and he was releasing the emotions that caused.

They appeared to have bought it.

He'd lied to the Council. And they'd bought it. It was disturbing, to realise how –not easy, but – achievable it had been. He'd_ gotten away with it._

Once he'd been away from the meeting, he'd allowed all the delayed reactions to catch up with him, and in between being drowned by the hammering in his ears and wiping sweating hands on his tunic, he'd started shaking. He'd still been shaking when he took the food capsules from a general supply room, and it had only subsided when he found one of the old lightsaber storages where he'd found a lightsaber and shoto that he thought resonated in a way that would fit well with Ahsoka. Of course, then he'd remembered that she'd lost her shoto during her escape, and found backups for both.

He hadn't meant to find another for himself. But the Force had called him to it, almost hidden on a dusty shelf at the back, while he was immersed in it while checking which lightsabers would suit Ahsoka. Younger, less experienced Force users had more trouble using lightsabers with an unfamiliar feeling, or a feeling that conflicted with their own. The crystals picked up resonances of the way they had been used, and it took varying degrees of concentration to ignore. The one's that the Force had nudged him to for the former Padawan were, to his relief, what he would have expected from her before this incident.

He let his fingers dance over that spare lightsaber he'd found for himself as he pulled the speeder to a stop, still a slight distance away from the building – it wouldn't do to alert them to his presence. The hilt was of a utilitarian design, somewhat old fashioned: rather unremarkable except for the streak of deformed metal down one side where it had been grazed by a lightsaber that had got past its user's defence. While he wondered about the history behind that mark, it wasn't essential. It fit him. And, in truth, it was sensible for him to pack a spare as well.

He was managing to keep his mind off of how the Council would react and on what needed to be done, but that didn't mean he was blind to the possibilities. He'd lose his position on the Council for sure. Probably his Master's status. They might suspend him until he could provide proof that he wasn't an accomplice in the bombing and all that had followed. And finding proof involved finding the person, the Jedi, who had done it. Without help at the Temple.

He would figure out how to do that later. Right then, he climbed out of the speeder, disconnected it's battery – he couldn't let it go back to the Temple, but it would be a waste of resources to just destroy it, as he suspected Anakin would do in his position – and looked up at the building. Okay. He could do this.

**A.N. Thank you all for taking the time to read this story, and a special thanks to my reviewers, who's response has blown me away. This chapter was just the bit with Ventress to start off with, but since that felt a bit short and there was a nice break before Obi-Wan went in in the (quite a bit longer than my average, before I split it,) next chapter, part of it found its way here. Hope you enjoy.  
**

**Next chapter: Obi-Wan goes in.**


	4. Sneaking In

Chapter 4: Sneaking In

He took off the robe and folded it, then placed it under his utility belt, wrapped around his middle. Comfortable and efficient, and not all that noticeable. He stuck to the shadows as he reached the perimeter of the level ground surrounding the complex, and gently nudged a few cameras gently_,_ gently_; don't move them enough to set off an alarm_… until there was a slim blind spot that he could slip into, and wait for a patrol to pass so he had the maximum amount of time, then sprint across the open ground with Force augmented speed, a sense of _not important, camera glitch or bird, don't mind me_ cloaked about him in a flimsy shield, the only thing protecting him from camera monitors and the sentry towers he could see.

Panting with adrenalin, he crouched down in a doorway. _It worked_.

He waited for the patrol to pass again, going back along their short route, and then pulled off the control panel by the door and hot-wired it open. That would register as another glitch, a fault in the panel, instead of the alarm it would cause if the door suddenly decided that it wanted to be open for no reason. He reached inside with his mind, feeling for the cameras on the other side of the door, and blew the fuse on one before coming back to himself. He disconnected the wires again, barely managing to put the panel back into place and dive through the gap before the bottom of the door reached the ground and sealed itself shut once more.

_I'm in._

There was far less security inside. That made sense, given the focus on keeping people who might rescue a temporary prisoner out, and the prisoners themselves in. Security would be concentrated at the perimeter and cells according to those objectives.

He knew these places. He might not know the exact layout of this one, but he knew the general pattern well enough to know that there would be a maze of hallways leading to a single viable way in and out of an inner building - a building within a building. He could feel it: a concentration of beings at the centre of the building, mostly…fuzzy, somehow, and a group of sharply alert minds at the edge of the group. Inner security.

This was one of the small facilities on Coruscant, chosen not for its security, but for the fact that no one would guess that such a supposedly dangerous prisoner was being kept here, and so would not be able to locate her for a rescue. They just hadn't counted on a Council member - who did know where she was being held - wanting to facilitate her escape. It didn't take him long to reach them, even with having to stop and hide a few times. A room full of soldiers, both clone and non-clone, was the only route between the two that didn't have automatic rapid fire motion sensitive blasters guarding it.

He studied it for a moment through the Force, and then sighed, wishing he had had the means to get some sleeping gas. _So much for not using blatant amounts of the Force_. Well, the Jedi Council would just have to deal with the fallout of him using the Force obviously to break into a military installation.

He closed his eyes, reaching for the room's occupants. Alert, trained to fend off weariness: but it was coming to the end of their shift, so what he was about to attempt would be possible.

Gently, agonisingly slowly, he soothed their minds towards sleep, constantly muting the mental alarms that went off in each and every head at becoming less than alert while on duty. Barely breathing in concentration, he increased the metabolisms of the most caffeinated individuals, and felt them start to yawn. The yawning was caught by the others, and he increased the pressure. _Sleep_. These were disciplined beings. Trained. He routed the command, nudging their brains to take it as an order._ Sleep._

The Clone's dropped off first, their genetic conditioning towards obedience making them easier to influence. At the sight, the drooping non-clone security guards attempted to snap alert, and he was forced to leave the Clones and hope they wouldn't wake up from their still-shallow state of unconsciousness to bring his full concentration to bear on the other half of the rooms' occupants. _Unconscious. Now._

Most dropped like they had been shot.

Relieved, he focused on the remaining individuals. Stubbornness and a good day's sleep before their shift combined to form extremely strong wills to stay awake; especially now that they knew something was influencing them and had already downed their colleagues. Obi-wan abandoned his efforts in favour of holding them in place, and snapped his eyes open to find sweat running down his face and dripping from his chin. He wiped his face, then he ducked out of the nook he had been hiding in (created, he would presume, so the guards would have cover to shoot from should someone break in: they had been all over the place,) and he ran down to the room, carved an oval through the transparisteel that separated him from them and leapt through it.

Spoken Force suggestions for them all, one at a time, made while in eye contact with each in turn left him last one standing in a field of bodies.

Breathing harshly, swallowing hard, he pushed back the memories _that_ caused in time to notice one of the clones had stirred, cracked an eye open, and was edging towards an alarm that would alert the whole base that there was an intruder before he even reached Ahsoka. A few steps and Obi-Wan levelled his still-active lightsaber at the man's throat. "Don't."

His voice was cracked.

Focusing for long enough to send the others into a deeper sleep that would not be easily disturbed, he attempted to ignore the terror and grim determination radiating from the man. He would not be able to mind trick or influence this one to sleep. Not from this state. And the moment he moved, the man would lunge for the alarm regardless of whether that would skewer him on Obi-Wan's blade.

Obi-Wan hesitated a moment._ Force forgive me…_

He telekinetically pinched shut the carotid arteries in the man's neck.

He released it the moment the man fell unconscious, suggesting that he stay unconscious, recover, sleep deeply. The moment he was sure the man would stay out, he looked for a chair by the monitors, and collapsed into it.

It all came down to intentions, in the end, and he knew that – but that was still too close to a Force choke to be classified as anything but borderline.

Grabbing an abandoned bottle of water, he took a glug, (best save his own supply for later,) and scanned the monitors. Undoubtedly, there would be a main control centre where this feed was also being watched, so…he located the cell Ahsoka was in, and then focused on slicing into the network and putting the feed from the empty corridors on a loop. He wasn't that in practice with slicing, but he had the access reach of the secondary control centre, and he managed.

Then he brought up Ahsoka's cell.

She was lying on the cold metal floor, in a position that suggested she had just been tossed there and left. Unconscious. The binders that cut her off from the Force still around her wrists. Various bruises covered the skin that he could see. One caught his attention, on her neck, which he recognised as a not-all-that-careful hypo injection - he risked bringing up her info, and dragged a hand over his face in relief when it didn't set anything off.

She'd been drugged. Heavily, from what he could tell: though he wasn't exactly an expert on togruta physiology, it was similar to human physiology in a lot of ways. There was a note saying she'd resisted fiercely and they'd had to use force to subdue her. Possible, but he wasn't sure he believed she would still have had that in her. Not so soon after her conviction. Not after how defeated she'd looked when she left the court.

Swallowing again with difficulty, he set a loop for her cell as well. Checked whether he would come across any guards from there to her cell and back, and whether he could access the outer security systems from there, (no, to both,) before grabbing some small blasters and placing them in the holsters on his armour - they might come in useful later, if only for disguise or the power packs they contained - leaving through the other side, carving another hole rather than bothering to undo the computerised lock. The only sound was his boots on the floor, louder than his Jedi boots, and the hum of his lightsaber.

It felt like a long walk.

They would all be fine. Even the one who's arteries he'd closed for a moment; it hadn't been long enough to cause brain damage, only knock him out. They'd be fine, and Ahsoka would recover once he got her out of this place. He'd do all he could to ensure it.

Carving yet another hole, this one through the wall beside Ahsoka's door – it was standard to have sensors in place that would shrill if the door were tampered with, he knew – he carefully pulled the newly created plug out and placed it across the door.

She looked worse in person.

He cut off her binders and clipped his lightsaber back to his belt, then gently lifted her over his shoulders as he had often done with Anakin, and Anakin had done to him, whenever they were out and needed moved. Only this time, the person he was carrying had suffered at the hands of the Republic. And the Jedi.

Why hadn't they stopped this? They _could_ have: they had the means. Could have given her a proper investigation, and protection from the politicians and Tarkin's ilk that were more concerned with proving her guilty than finding out what had actually happened. What she had and hadn't done, and why she had done the things she had, things such as breaking out in the first place – though he could guess that. She would have seen that her innocence or guilt would not matter in the face of the various agendas being flung in her face, and decided to find the truth on her own. The theory felt right, in the Force, so he kept it as fact, washing away the last concern he'd harboured about the possibility of her being guilty.

He had to pull this off. For Ahsoka, who had been mistreated by the system she had protected, and cast away by the people who were supposed to protect her. For Anakin, whose pain showed in his eyes, always more present than it should be for a Jedi, but who threw himself into his search instead of whining at Obi-wan to fix it as he had so often done in the past when things went wrong. And because he could not stand aside when he saw this happen and choose to do nothing, not without compromising everything he liked to think he was.

Sucking in a huge breath, opening himself even further to the Force to draw strength, he began to hurriedly retrace his steps, one arm trapping Ahsoka's arm between his elbow and his body, the hand of that arm wrapped securely around her ankle, ensuring he wouldn't drop her. Back through the empty halls – no wonder there hadn't been more guards inside: if they kept the prisoner's unconscious, they wouldn't have to worry about escape attempts from them. Just people breaking in to free them, like he was doing now.

He felt Ahsoka drawing on the Force now she could reach it and it could reach her, even in unconsciousness, a habit ingrained into her by Anakin. On the front lines, with the possibility of capture looming over them, it had been more important to teach her things that would help with that than the standard curriculum for Padawan's. He was glad of it now, as he sensed her automatically, instinctively, beginning to filter the drugs out of her bloodstream.

He slowed down as he got near to the inner control hub, considering. He couldn't use Force speed or doge past the cameras like he had on the way in, not with Ahsoka's deadweight to carry. Any more motion would likely set off alarms anyway. And he had no idea when the shift change would be, other than the knowledge that it was soon.

_I'm not going to get out of this without fighting_. Obi-Wan reached for the Force, and it confirmed the thought. He sighed. It would probably be best to get as close as he could to the outside before he was discovered, which could happen at any time, and it would help if Ahsoka woke up at least a bit before making the push to break the outer perimeter.

So, the choice was whether to make his way as best he could towards the perimeter, or wait for Ahsoka to wake up.

**A.N. I know, cliffhanger. Er…muahaha? Sorry, that's just where the natural break was.**

**Next chapter: Breaking out, in which Obi-Wan's premonition about not getting out without a fight is proved correct.**


	5. Breaking Out

Chapter 5: Breaking Out

Just as he decided to take the risk of waiting, and slowed to a walk, intending to wait in the control room he'd knocked out the occupants of, (which meant he could also monitor their states and prevent them from waking up and raising the alarm,) he heard voices coming from the direction he was headed, then an alarmed shout, and was almost deafened by the blast of noise that came from a speaker at ear height, less than a meter from his head.

Ahsoka groaned slightly as he peaked around the corner, then sharply drew his head back as a blaster bolt was loosed at him by one of the first arrivals of the next shift. He grabbed a lightsaber from his belt – not his own, Ahsoka's foot was in the way of that – and ignited just in time to slice the blaster's barrel off as the guard thundered around the corner. Obi-Wan dropped him with a nerve pinch, and then leapt around the corner into sight of the interior control room's next guards. He was greeted by a flurry of blaster bolts, most of them slightly off their original targets as they recognised him and their eyes widened. One handed, he reflected them away from himself and Ahsoka, and they ricocheted off the walls, heading back towards their shooters in a zigzag pattern. The guards scrambled back inside the room for cover just in time.

_Great_. He looked at the lightsaber, momentarily distracted. It was green, one of the ones he'd picked out for Ahsoka. Shaking his head, sending a mental prompt to the teen in question that now would be a_ really_ good time to wake up, he set her down gently, took his own lightsaber in his other hand, and ran at them, leaping through the gap he'd made. Useless blaster halves clattered to the floor, and he swept their owners into the wall with a powerful Force push.

Dazed, confused, but determined, the ones who had hit it less hard shook off their daze and scrambled for the side-arms on the unconscious bodies. Mentally cursing the fact that he hadn't disabled those on his way through earlier – _sloppy, Kenobi_ – he waited until they shot at him, then aimed his deflections at their arms. The sizzle of burnt flesh and howls of pain filled the air, and he winced in sympathy. They were just doing their job.

Then again, he'd seen what just-doing-their-job mentalities could cause all too clearly of late.

There were still a few – four – not down for the count. Deactivating one of the lightsabers, Obi-Wan saw the indecision flash across their faces. They were well trained, but they couldn't stand up to a battle hardened Jedi. And they knew it.

They charged at him anyway, forgoing blasters that he could reflect back at them for fists. First one, then three men – no, two men and one woman – rushed him, and he dropped into a defensive crouch, dropping his other lightsaber, and using both hands to toss one into the transparisteel headfirst, sweeping another's legs out from under him and then ruthlessly breaking his arm, before blocking a punch from the woman with his palm, grabbing and twisting, turning so could throw her forward over his shoulder to slam bodily into the floor. Her breath left her with a whoosh and he sensed her ribs crack, a couple breaking and pressing against her lung, as the foam from the fire extinguisher hit him full blast.

He was knocked back into the side of a desk. Diving sideways, spitting the stuff from his mouth so he could breath, he was ready with an open palm when the man re-aimed at him, the high-pressure foam harmlessly redirecting itself to either side of him.

The canister petered out of fuel, and the man threw it at him. Obi-wan caught it with the Force and sent it sling-shooting around his body and into the man's abdomen.

He called his lightsaber to hand and reignited it. "Nobody move," he warned the semi-comprehending, moaning occupants, before he left and hauled Ahsoka over his shoulders once more. He got a few blearily belligerent looks on his way back through, but no one challenged him, and he was able to take off through the corridors, the wailing of the sirens accompanying the rhythmic thud of his feet.

Ahsoka groaned again, stirring slightly. He was probably jostling her, but he couldn't slow down and still hope to beat the reinforcements that were likely now on their way to the outside of the compound. Booted feet thudded towards him, and he cut through a wall, ran past, then cut through again as shouts echoed down the metal walls from the location of the first hole.

He reached the outer door, triggering it open as he approached (too late for subtlety now), ducking under the rising metal and ignoring his fatigue as he increased his speed from "fast" to "Force-fueled", jerking to one side as a hail of fire tore at the ground, then again as a missile was launched from the roof of the compound, the blast knocking him and Ahsoka flying. He rolled to a stop, and spotted her a few meters away, shakily pushing herself onto an elbow and blinking. He saw more than heard a muttered, "Not again," before her arm gave out and she dropped back down. He stumbled over, lightsaber in his free hand as he grabbed an arm and pulling it around his shoulders before hauling her up.

"Can you run or do I need to carry you?" he shouted over the ringing in his ears, suspecting the latter. As predicted, she blinked woozily at him, surprise colouring her expression.

"What – you weren't there."

From her tone, he inferred that she thought she was reliving her previous escape, even as he released a pang of guilt. He hadn't been there. None of them had. "This is real, Ahsoka," he yelled, deflecting more fire aimed at both of them. "Can you run?" The Force brought the distinctive whirr of Republic gunships to his ears, and he glanced in that direction. He could see them, tiny shapes flying between the lanes of traffic. Minutes away, at most. He pressed one of the spare lightsabers he'd picked out for her into her hand, then a shoto. The snap-hiss of their ignition seemed to snap her out of her confusion, and she turned so she was back to back with him. All the security that he had wondered the whereabouts of on the inside was lined up between them and freedom

"Why – how – "

"Later! When we're not being shot at!"

A disbelieving, slightly too high pitched laugh came from her, and he could tell the Force was the only thing holding her upright, but she still managed to block the bolts coming at her. "Way out?"

"Er…" He'd been relying on being able to get past the line before something like…well,_ this_, happened. Hadn't had the time to research the facility anywhere but the Temple, or the ability to do so without triggering all sorts of alarms at the Jedi Temple. But a remembered comment from Anakin about sewer pipes _had_ prompted him to look up the city schematics for the area. There were tunnels under their feet, not worried about because there were very few things that could cut though the dense material they were standing on. "Down?" It was the only viable option he could see.

Incredulity radiated from her. He ignored the wordless assumption of _you didn't even come in with a backup plan?_ and grabbed a second lightsaber, defending himself with his blue while he ignited the scarred backup he'd found. Not stopping to be startled by the colour (a Sentinel's blade? He'd assumed it would be another blue,) he shuffled them over until the Force nudged him to stop, and started to carve through the metal at their feet with it, then had to stop and plant his feet as another shockwave hammered at him. He managed to deflect enough of it to keep them from being blown off their feet this time, if barely. "Take over!" He shouted to her. It was unfair to expect her to cover him while he did the easy work. "I'll shield you!"

Half collapsing to one knee, her face drawn, she nodded; clipping the shoto to her belt and plunging her lightsaber into the beginnings of a gash he'd made and starting to drag it through the dense alloy. He moved between her and the wall of guards that were warily advancing, blue and yellow lightsabers in hand, whirling them in the defense that had allowed him to survive this long; one reflecting shots aimed at him back at the line, one blocking anything aimed at Ahsoka. He could see the gunships nearing, spotlights roaming then focusing on the pair of them, dazzling his eyes with their brightness, sense the missile launcher on the roof readying another shot, and he flipped over her head, one hand raised to catch and deflect the explosion, tearing it away halfway through the blast to catch the wave of blaster bolts that all fired at the same time, his feet skidding, the armour the only thing protecting him from the energy that grazed him as he forced his arms and blades to move fast enough to protect Ahsoka from the incoming fire. One of the gunships landed behind the line, and a squad of ARC troopers appeared at the front a moment later as it took off again, closing to distance between them and him far too quickly, heedless of the storm of destructive light raging around them, trusting their heavy armour to take any stray hits that the people behind them misaimed, and the ones he managed to deflect in their direction.

"Got it!" He barely heard her over all the noise, waited until she jumped down before following and raising the plug back into position, holding it there and sealing it by dragging a lightsaber around where the edges met.

Breathing heavily, they looked at each other.

She really did look a mess, from the bruises he'd noticed earlier to dirt from the underlevels streaking her skin and clothes, to her pale and drawn face, dull eyes shadowed with worry and lack of sleep. She was slumped against the wall of the tunnel, arms wrapped around her middle, the Force drawn strength fading and the adrenalin surge wearing off. "Did the Council change their minds?" she asked hoarsely.

"No," was his quiet relpy, and he wished he could have given her another answer as he watched her shrink into herself, watching him warily. "I'm acting alone."

"What about Anakin?"

"He was being watched too closely to pull off any sort of rescue." Obi-Wan pulled a compressed container of water out of his belt and handed it to her. There was a banging sound above their heads. "We should get moving." She groaned, resting her head against the side of the tunnel. "I can carry you, if you want."

Familiar stubbornness rose to her features, and he almost smiled. They went slowly, and when she stumbled, he pulled her arm around his shoulders, glad he was not much taller than she was.

After walking a long way – several kilometres, by his guess – through the twists and turns and many junctions of what seemed to be the oxygenated air coming back to be released into the skies from one of the "green enclosures" the city air was cycled through to prevent it going stale, the Force indicated they should stop. "We'll go through here."

He got a faint shrug in response.

Cutting through the wall of the pipe/tunnel, he found they were standing on the edge of one of the giant sinkhole-like vertical tunnels that delved deep into Coruscant. Ahsoka let out a disgruntled groan. "I'm having a distinct sense that I've done this before," she muttered.

He cast her a raised eyebrow.

"Last time…" she broke off with a sigh that turned into a yawn. He waited patiently. "Last time, I jumped down one of these to get away."

Yes; he did remember something about that also coming up in Anakin's rant to him afterwards, though he had to admit to himself that he'd been more focused on calming Anakin down at the time, before his former apprentice went and engaged Mace Windu in a lightsaber duel to the death or something equally rash and life threatening.

"Then let's hope this goes slightly better," he murmured, and stepped to the precipice. "Coming?"

Grabbing his wrist so the fall wouldn't separate them; confusion, exhaustion and fear of feeling the hope she'd given up on in her eyes and presence, his grand Padawan raised her chin and gave a small nod. Then they stepped forwards and let themselves fall, down and down, wind pulling at their skin, the excessive number of lightsabers at his belt rattling against each other, then he tilted their flight towards a cargo vessel going down and slowed them with the Force, feeling Ahsoka add some assistance with direction but letting him take the lead and provide the strength needed to counteract gravity and velocity. They landed with a small thud and flattened themselves to the top of it, waiting there as it descended slowly, and waiting for it to come to a stop. Blinking himself alert, he looked beside him.

She was asleep.

Smiling sadly, he gently picked her up and leapt off the transport before anyone saw them. There would be plenty of empty places they could rest for the night around here.

**Next Chapter: The Council meet and come to a possibly-not-entirely-accurate conclusion on what happened and what they need to do.**


	6. The Council's Conclusion

Chapter 6: The Council's Conclusion

The Jedi Master's that filed or flickered into the Council chambers at four in the morning were not exactly pleased to be there. Firstly, because it was early, and secondly because if Master Mace Windu had summoned them at this hour with a top priority urgent meeting, then it meant something had gone badly wrong. And given how badly things had been going lately, (such as a Padawan bombing the Temple,) that was not a comforting thought.

Mace came hurrying in last, a thunderous expression clouding his features, and dropped into his chair with a thud. "I'm calling this meeting because-"

"Here yet, Obi-Wan is not," Yoda interrupted him sleepily. Mace stared hard at him for a moment.

"I know. That's part of why I called this." He stared at the small orb in his hand. "I can't believe we missed this…"

He pressed a button on the arm of his seat, and placed the orb in the stand that rose up. A holographic image expanded out from it, rocking and weaving, too small to see what was going on except there was a lot of energy blasts flying about. "This recording was copied from a gunship called to assist in preventing the breakout attempt going on at the facility where former Padawan, Dark Jedi and suspected Separatist Ahsoka Tano was being held."

"Was?" Saesee straightened up, alarmed. All around the circle, the Councillors were rubbing their eyes, sitting straighter.

"Was," Mace confirmed grimly. "Watch."

The image became larger as the gunship approached, the room eerily silent in contrast to what must have been a roar of shouts, blaster fire, engines – and missiles, if that explosion that has just taken place was any indication. Both the explosion itself and the high pitched whine it emitted would have been added to the cacophony. They had all been in battle at one point or another, and this looked like a full scale battle. Two figures came into definition, standing back to back, with lightsabers whirling. Ki-Adi peered at them. "Ventress?" he questioned, identifying one of the figures as holding two full length lightsabers.

"I wish," Mace growled, looking like the image had personally offended him. "That would at least make some sense."

"Then who?" The smaller figure dropped to the ground, and the figure with the two lightsabers moved to stand guard over what was probably Ahsoka herself, from the shape of the figure's head. It was an excellent piece of saber work, several members noted, creating what was almost a shield of light between them and the troops. And, oddly, almost familiar.

The smaller figure was certainly Ahsoka, they could see now. Her accomplice, someone in armour close to the style the clones used. Mace froze the image as the unknown Force wielder flipped over Tano's head, hand outstretched in the direction of another incoming missile.

Shock radiated around the Council chambers as Obi-Wan Kenobi's face, set in intense concentration, became clearly visible.

"I'm sure you realise how this complicates the situation." Mace continued scowling at the image. "It appears that Tano was not acting alone. And the fact that they have subverted a Council member is…deeply disturbing."

"As disturbing as us not sensing it," Plo Koon murmured.

"Yes." Mace sighed. "And Admiral Tarkin - who contacted me with this footage - is demanding an explanation. I don't think I have to warn you about the possibility of the Senate and the populous taking this the wrong way should we not act quickly."

There were grimaces around the room. The Council were all too aware of how public opinion was starting to turn on the Jedi.

Yoda broke their contemplation. "What else had Admiral Tarkin to say?"

"He's demanding that the military exclusively handle this." Mace's lips thinned for a moment. "And that the Jedi Order allow the same sentence to be put on his head as is on Tano's."

Incredulous ripples ran through the Force. "We cannot set the death sentence without trial," Kit protested. "We need to give him a chance to explain himself."

"And this is a Jedi matter." Ki-Adi was frowning deeply. "Even more so now that Kenobi is revealed to be involved.

"I agree. We will have to make our case to the Chancellor, to counter their suggestion." He could feel a headache coming on already. "But while I would rather like to get some answers from Kenobi myself, a rouge former Jedi Padawan was bad enough. A Council member gone rouge is worse. We have to look at the big picture on this one; Tano herself agreed that no-one would bomb the Temple unless they were Dark, and if he's working with her, then we're dealing with a Fallen Jedi Master. The amount of damage one of those can cause is terrifying. If authorizing lethal force as an option is what it takes, then we have no choice."

"And if he has broken her out, then he _is_ working with her," Saesee mused with muted horror. "Though a death sentence on a current member of the Order would set an extremely bad precedent."

And a dangerous one. Mace looked to Yoda, who shook his head. "No proof of his turn we have," the ancient Master pointed out gravely. "Only actions. And here for a trial he is not." He appeared to be staring at something in the far distance. Something was bothering him, beyond even what they were speaking of.

"Which means we can't expel him." Saesee scowled. "Even though that is the only reasonable thing to do to a Fallen Master."

The old master was still frowning, though. "Master?"

"Thinking, I was." Yoda looked around the room, solemnly meeting each occupants gaze. "Clouded the Force is: too clouded to see. And…" There was a hesitation before Yoda drew the, suddenly obvious, terrible conclusion of Kenobi's treason coinciding with the Force's clouding enough that even Yoda could see nothing. "Come into contact with the Sith, Obi-Wan has, many times over the last few years. Discussed the possibility of Sith involvement in the bombing we did, before Tano was revealed, but dismissed it after." His ears drooped. "Consider the possibility, we must again."

It made sense. Jedi Master's didn't just Fall to the Dark side for nothing.

It hadn't crossed his mind before that that it could have been the Sith, and not just the war, that had caused this. He hadn't let it, he supposed. But it made sense. _But there could be another explanation. If he hasn't Fallen. Though I cannot see any way he could not have, from his actions, and the Force's silence…_

He changed the subject silently, setting the recording to play again, and they watched as Kenobi half fielded off a blast from the missile, managing, if barely, to keep himself and Ahsoka Tano alive in the middle of the storm. They saw ARC troopers advance, saw that they were not going to make it in time, and saw them reach the hole as a lightsaber was running round the edges.

"It took them almost an hour to get through," he stated sombrely, redirecting everyone's thoughts to the search. "By that time, Kenobi and Tano were long gone. They're still searching the tunnels for where they went, but it's a vast network."

"Do you think Skywalker was involved?" Plo rested his chin on his clasped fingers.

"I don't know. He seemed genuine when investigating, but then so did Kenobi. He was the one who captured her though, and a full Knight is far less impressionable than a Padawan. We need to check with his watcher what he's been up to since he got back, and question him ourselves." It occurred to him slightly belatedly that if Skywalker did happen to be involved, then he might not be willing to come quietly. "I'll go and get him."

"Come with you, I will," Yoda announced, coming out of his reverie. Mace nodded. He may be reputed as one of the best 'saber fighters the Order had, but he felt far more comfortable potentially going up against Skywalker with his old Master by his side.

"Once we get this sorted. Just what are we going to do about Kenobi?"

"He's clearly defected from the Order," Kit offered slightly hesitantly. "And the Republic."

Ki-Adi's gaze was sharp. "You said Tarkin was demanding the military handle this."

Mace nodded. "He claims the Jedi would be too biased." His tone demonstrated eloquently what he thought of the Jedi's devotion to the Republic being questioned.

"And if he were no longer a Jedi?"

For a moment, Mace's breath left him. "We don't have the means to expel him."

Except, that wasn't quite true.

There was an uncomfortable silence around the broken circle. Each member was running over the facts in their head. Tano had Fallen. Kenobi was in league with Tano. Both had committed treason. Treason against the Republic meant the Separatists. And the Separatists meant…

"That has not been used in nearly a thousand years," Plo Koon observed at last. There was some uneasy murmuring. No one wanted to call for it. Mace scanned around the circle, his gaze fixing on Saesee Tiin as he drew himself up and took a deep breath, seeming to gather his resolve. A knot of dread settled in his gut, and he breathed most of it out. _He's not going to -_

"Then I - I am proposing the use of The Exception in the matter of expelling Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Jedi Order, in the absence of a confession or witness, on the grounds of his recent actions and their implications."

There was a ringing silence. The air seemed to grow heavy with the gravity of the statement. Mace swallowed.

He'd never thought he would live to see that used. Never wanted to. The Exception was something to be be learned about in history class, not applied.

But then, he'd never thought he'd see the return of the Sith until it happened, either.

"All in favour," He counted the hands. The seriousness of the accusation that warranted use of The Exception meant it would take ten of twelve - ten of eleven, in this case - of the votes to pass it.

Sorrowful eyes, filled with the devastation of losing one of their members like this, met his. Every hand was up.

He tried to swallow again, but his mouth was too dry. _The evidence says he was working with her. She's Fallen. And a Council member would not take orders form a Padawan, meaning the mastermind of the bombing was him._ "The motion passes. Unanimously."

It was as though they had all let out the breath they had been collectively holding. There was a stunned stillness for a moment, and then hushed conversation between neighbours sprung up, several members looking as though they had just woken up from a horrible dream and were not quite sure what was real or not. Mace turned to Yoda.

"I'll inform Tarkin. Then we can get Skywalker's questioning out of the way before I meet with the Supreme Chancellor as soon as he gets into his office."

Yoda nodded gravely, looking far older than normal. "Come with you while you inform the Admiral, I will."

Mace was struck by a moment of bleak humour as they left for the communications centre. _At least this should convince them that the Jedi Order as a whole had nothing to do with Kenobi's actions…_

**A.N. A heartfelt thank you to all my wonderful reviewers. And sorry to ****Book Girl Fan**** and anyone else who was hoping they'd give him the benefit of the doubt, but given their recent track record…**

**Next Chapter: Anakin is questioned by the Council.**

**Edit: It's been pointed out to me that Tarkin is an Admiral, not a Governor, at this point in Star Wars, so I've sorted that out. Thank you. **


	7. Questioning Anakin

Chapter 7: Questioning Anakin

At this time of night, there were very few Jedi roaming the halls, but (after assuring the disgruntled Tarkin that a) the Jedi were not involved, b) that the Jedi would be conducting a search with utmost urgency, and that c) there was no need for Tarkin to inform the Chancellor, Mace would do that himself since he actually had all the information,) a comm call to Skywalker's watcher revealed that Skywalker was in the dojo and had been almost since he got in. "He went to Kenobi's first," the arconan went on, oblivious to the tension this created in the two master's listening to her voice, "but only for a short while, and he came out scowling something awful. He's been there since, completely absorbed in what he's doing. Seems to have done him some good, actually; he's a lot calmer than he was when he started practicing."

"I see. Stay there until Master Yoda and myself arrive: the Council needs to speak with him."

"Sure. Do you want me to notify him?"

"No." Mace broke the connection abruptly. Yoda sighed.

"Like Obi-Wan, this does not seem."

"I thought you were convinced he'd joined the Sith?" It wasn't an accusation. But it came out sounding like one. Yoda's ears flattened back along his head for a moment, and he gave the younger Jedi a sharp look.

"Mmm. Silent the Force is on the matter. Listening for it I was, when watching the recording we were."

_Silent? _"Could it be being blocked from reaching us by the Shroud of the Dark side?" Mace looked down at him. "Even you can sense nothing? Not even something garbled?" That was what he had thought was the problem: the Shroud blocking the Force's messages in a general way, as it had done for some time.

If Mace's eyes weren't deceiving him, Yoda looked slightly lost. "Nothing," he confirmed. "One of the reasons I thought of the Sith, it is. Nothing we sensed of the Sith while hiding they were; nothing we sense of them now. And nothing I sense right now concerning Obi-Wan, or sensed that indicated could have that on this path he was." The other main reason – that it would take the Sith themselves to make Obi-Wan Kenobi Fall – was left unsaid.

"Like you mentioned," Mace commented after a pensive silence where he weighed the words Yoda had just spoken. The connection Yoda had discovered could not be taken lightly. _Yet more damning evidence against him. We made the correct choice. _"Obi-Wan has been exposed to the malicious energies of the Sith many times. This Darkness could have been growing in his mind for a while; escaping notice perhaps even from him until it was too late. I'm certain that the Obi-Wan I thought I knew would be horrified at loosing a Dark Jedi on the Galaxy like he's done by releasing Tano."

"Hmm." The older Jedi frowned at the air, and Mace felt him trying in vain to reach to the Force for answers. He also sensed the old Jedi Master's worry as he found nothing, again. "Say nothing to start with of Obi-Wan's defection, we will. Gauge his reaction to being questioned, that will give us time to."

Mace nodded. Checking just where Skywalker's loyalties lay in this matter before they revealed just how much they knew and didn't know was a good idea.

"Tarkin seemed disappointed I planned to report the Chancellor myself," he commented. Yoda harrumphed.

"No friend of the Jedi, he is. Suspect I do that hoping to use the occasion to paint the Jedi in a bad light, he was."

"So the military could gain more power, and have less Jedi interference." Mace completed the statement. "That is an idea of growing popularity among the officers."

"Hmm. Worry I do, about what the army would be without the Jedi," Yoda confided quietly. "Taken advantage of, the Clone's might be. And trust Tarkin, I do _not_."

Mace nodded. He was not blind. He could see how the factions of the Republic - the GAR officers, the Jedi, the politicians - were starting to come into conflict more and more. _But however bad things might become from that, it will still be far better than it would without the Republic._

Skywalker had left his robe in crumpled heap by the wall, and his tabards and overtunic were lying on top of it. He was, to the slight bemusement of both Jedi Masters, practicing Soresu Kata, the movements flowing gracefully together with the energy efficiency that was the styles' trademark.

"Skywalker." Mace barked out the name, and had to stop himself from feeling satisfied as the young Knight jumped, startled out of his complete focus on his actions. A moment later the feeling of the Force having stilled around the boy, a lull in the swirl of untamed power Skywalker carried with him, was gone, and a feeling of intense worry hit both Master's.

"Is it morning already?" came the desolate question.

Mace's lips thinned. While he couldn't exactly condemn working out emotions through saber practice – he did it often enough himself, especially lately, as meditation offered no answers – it seemed to him that Skywalker hadn't actually managed to release anything. This meant that all Skywalker was doing was getting better with a lightsaber – near useless, without the emotional stability to use it wisely – and exhausting himself. "Very early, but yes. The Council wishes to speak with you."

Confusion passed obviously over the boy's features, but then his eyes brightened. "Has someone found something, some new evidence that proves her innocent?"

"No. Your former Padawan was proven guilty by the military court, Skywalker. She is guilty."

"Then why speak with me?" he demanded. "Something's happened, hasn't it? Something concerning Ahsoka." He ran a towel over his face, wiping off the worst of the sweat.

Mace was more concerned with Obi-Wan's – Kenobi's – part in all of this than he was with Tano's. Kenobi was, for the moment at least, the greater potential threat. Especially with Yoda's revelation that he too was sensing nothing on the matter, meaning the Sith's involvement might be ever greater than they had feared.

That Skywalker was still sticking to his apparent conviction that Tano was innocent was…confusing. It also suggested, worryingly, that he was still attempting to prove that. Skywalker losing control of his emotions was not something he wanted to see, and he suspected that was what would happen when the boy was finally disillusioned about his former Padawan. Should he be sincere.

Anticipation and dread coloured the Force around the boy as he pulled his discarded pieces of clothing back on. Mace saw that his hands were shaking slightly, though from emotion or exertion he could not tell. A shared glance with Yoda confirmed that he had seen it too. "Let's go."

Yoda went ahead as they neared the chambers, to tell them what they had already found out - and stop the argument that had undoubtedly erupted in their absence - before Skywalker arrived, and the Council were all waiting silently as Skywalker took the centre of the room. Mace sat down.

After several minutes of the council staring at Skywalker with both eyes and the Force, Skywalker shifted uncomfortably. "Erm, what exactly is this about?"

"Your former Padawan," Yoda announced after another silence, this one not quite as long. "And your former master."

"Obi-Wan?" radiating confusion, Skywalker looked at Kenobi's empty chair. "Shouldn't he be here?"

"Hmm." Yoda leaned forward. "Acting how, was he, when went to visit him you did earlier?"

There was a flash of outrage in the Force. Several Council members winced slightly. "You were following me?!"

"Answer the question you should, young Skywalker."

Emotions subsiding, scowling resentfully at Yoda, Skywalker thought about it. "Well…like Obi-Wan. Banter, talking me through a few things. Forgetting that I've been knighted for several years and treating me as his Padawan, as usual." This got none of the fond half smiles it normally would have from the Council members, many of whom had raised Padawan's of their own and who had all been treated like that on occasion by their own former masters. Skywalker looked around, blinking. "Seemed a bit preoccupied. Why?"

"Preoccupied, hmm?"

Skywalker blinked. "Yeah, preoccupied with something. I'm not really sure what, but there was something on his mind." He gave a shrug. "Not hard to guess really: he's not been happy with the way Ahsoka's case was handled." His frown deepened. "What _happened_ with Ahsoka? And where _is_ he?"

Glances were exchanged around the circle, no one quite willing to have Skywalker's angry disbelief directed at them. After a moment, Mace resigned himself to once more being the bearer of bad news. "Ahsoka Tano was broken out of prison _by_ Obi-Wan Kenobi. Due to these circumstances, and the conclusions that can be drawn from them, he has been expelled from the Jedi Order and put under the same sentence as Tano herself."

"…What?" Pure, stunned shock crossed his face. "But - you can't - this is _Obi-Wan_ -"

"We can and have, Skywalker." Mace interrupted his spluttering impatiently. _Don't give him time to work up a head of steam…_

"But - but," years seemed to peel away from Skywalker, leaving him young and open and scared, as he had been the first time he stood in front of the Council at the age of nine. It only lasted a moment, though, before the war-hardened Knight was back, his face darkening. "After_ everything_ Obi-Wan's done for you you're just going to _throw him out_ at the first little thing?!"

_So much for that…_ he could almost see the storm clouds gathering around Skywalker's head, his Force signature starting to darken with anger. _He has almost no control._

Putting aside _that_ worrying thought for later, he attempted reason. "Only a fallen Jedi would have bombed the Temple the way Tano did. Now Kenobi has shown himself to be in allegiance with her, that means he has Fallen too, much as we wish it were otherwise. We have _no choice_ but to cast him out. A Fallen Jedi can do an immense amount of damage, a Fallen Jedi _Master_…even more so." He pushed aside the memories. _Someone else might wonder if that Council seat were cursed, all things considered. First Depa, now Obi-Wan…_

"Ahsoka's _innocent!"_

"So you believe," Mace's voice was flat. "The law says otherwise. Your attachment to them both is blinding your judgment."

"Your _detachment_ is blinding you!" Skywalker spat, colour rising up his neck. "How do you know what Obi-Wan was thinking? He disagreed with you on this from the start; for all _you_ know he agreed with me and couldn't let an _innocent_ be executed! And how can you expel him anyway, there isn't a way to do that without _him_ or some _proof_…" He trailed off, and blanched. All colour drained from his face as his wide, horrified eyes bored into Mace. He looked ready to collapse. "You _didn't…_" he whispered.

"We did," Mace said grimly, putting a slight emphasis on the "we". Skywalker had a disturbing tendency to blame him alone for any Council decision he didn't like. Mace wouldn't run from a fight with him, quite the opposite, but intellectually he would rather it didn't become necessary.

"I find it interesting that you came up with a rationalization for Kenobi's actions so fast," Saesee said, narrowing his eyes. "Did you perhaps have foreknowledge of this event?"

Skywalker looked like he hadn't heard him for a moment, then he turned his stare on Saesee, who shifted uncomfortably. "He didn't tell me."

"An answer, that is not." Yoda spoke sharply. "Know did you?

"…No," Skywalker said, his voice still hollow, numb and disbelieving. "I didn't know."

Yoda stared at him for a long moment, gauging his truthfulness, before tilting his head. "But suspect, you did."

As a collective breath was sucked in by the rest of the room's occupants, Anakin jerked his head up, the fire in his eyes starting to rekindle itself. "I hoped, would be more accurate." He nearly hissed the words. "She _is_ innocent. And I hoped, when I realized Obi-Wan was acting oddly, that believed me, and in her, and had thought of a way to find proof of that and get her out of there."

Mace nearly groaned. The boy hadn't listened to a word he'd said about attachment. No wonder - he cut off the thought before it could reach its conclusion. _No wonder Obi-Wan is always lecturing him. They go in one ear and straight through his empty head before exiting again without a trace._ Obi-wan had, apparently, Fallen, and besides, it was an unworthy thought for a Jedi. No matter how true. Which it couldn't be in any case, or Skywalker would never have survived this long.

Mace was distracted from his musing on the matter between Skywalker's ears, or the possible lack of thereof, by Yoda linking the Council through the Force. They had used to do this all the time, but now they could no longer reach for the Force and agree on its answer (and thus the best solution to whatever the problem was) they found it easier to speak aloud. And it was more inclusive: they were spread out across the Galaxy, and distance prevented communication of this sort between those who were not present. This would have to be between only the present members. At least there were quite a few: himself and Yoda, Ki-Adi, Plo and Saesee, called home to deal with the issue of Tano. `_Detect no deception in his words, I do. Right you were, Mace. Attachment, blinding him it is.`_

There were a series of acknowledgments, accompanied by reluctant admittances that they had not sensed anything either. Mace could feel his headache worsening. _`That means that _he, _at least, is innocent in this matter.` _That was more than a slight relief. The possible consequences of the Chosen One Falling - he cut that thought off too.

_`But what are we going to do with him?"_ Plo's voice came through.

_`We can't keep him here,` _Mace mused. _`There is the temptation he would face to join what he believes is a righteous crusade against the Order and Tano's sentence. He has followed the rules so far, but this is Skywalker. We cannot expect it to last, not with his temper involved.`_

`_Back to the front lines?_` Saesee wondered. _`We have need of him there, and he was only recalled for the investigation. Plus, it would occupy his thoughts, preventing brooding.`_

Mace was not entirely sure that Skywalker would not just bend the laws of time to fit some brooding in if he felt he was being denied the opportunity to do so, but at least they would have a new weapon in the form of time manipulation to use against the Separatists and Sith should that happen. _`Agreed`_

`_Who's going to tell him?` _Plo wondered dryly. Mace refrained from rubbing his temples, with effort.

"Skywalker, go to your quarters and prepare for departure," he announced. "You will receive a briefing on what has happened in your absence once you are on board the Resolute."

Skywalker looked very much like he would like to protest, but between the stern look Yoda gave him and Mace's stare they managed to make him decide against it. His jaw clenched spasmodically as Yoda stood. "Walk with you I will," he announced, stopping the fledgling rebellion that was probably starting to brew in the boy's head. "See you off, I would like to."

Eyes blazing helplessly, Skywalker gave a stiff nod before turning and striding out of the room at a speed that suggested he couldn't get away from them fast enough. Yoda gave a huff and hurried after him.

**A.N. Um, wow. This is proving more popular than I expected. Thank you all so much, with an especially massive thank you to my reviewers. You are amazing.**

**Next Chapter: Ahsoka wakes up.**


	8. Waking Up

Chapter 8: Waking Up

Ahsoka Tano woke with a start at the sound. After a moment of sleep-disorientated panic, she identified it as the quiet hum of a pocket razor, like the one her Master carried.

Then awareness _really_ caught up with her, and with a wince she corrected that to `former Master`.

Where was she?

She sat up, realizing she was lying on a worn sleep pallet, tucked under a warm brown blanket of some sort.

No. A Jedi robe.

What?

Rubbing her eyes, she looked around. A dingy, abandoned apartment would be her guess at location. It certainly wasn't a cell, at least, so that was an improvement.

The razor switched off, and a clean shaven redhead in Mandalorian armour stepped into the room, two battered mugs in hand. He looked vaguely familiar, but that didn't stop her reaching automatically for her lightsabers, only to be pulled up short when she found she actually had them.

Well, they weren't _her_ lightsabers, but they were pretty close in style. They even felt similar in the Force.

"I have another of each, in case those don't suit you," the man said, and she blinked at him. That sounded like…

"Master Obi-Wan?!" She blurted out in astonishment. It _was _him, looking past the lack of facial hair and uncharacteristic clothes.

Master Obi-Wan nodded to another lightsaber and shoto that were lying between the pallet and the peeling wall, and placed the mugs on the floor, before popping a food capsule from his belt. Bewildered, she summoned the lightsaber and shoto to hand, luxuriating in being able to feel the Force again. They felt close-to-right too.

Dissolving one capsule of minerals in each mug then snapping that capsule back to his belt and opening a pouch to pull out a couple of nutrient bars of different types, Master Obi-Wan watched her compare the two lightsabers and then the two shoto, placing the lightsaber she'd woken up with back on her hip but switching the shoto. He offered her the mug and the bar suitable for togruta when she was done. "I don't know when you last had a decent meal, but it must have been some time ago now."

It had been. She'd spent the last few days living on energy capsules, and though she wouldn't have exactly classified ration bars as a decent meal, she sat opposite him and munched on it anyway. She felt her stomach fill disproportionately quickly.

She was remembering now; a hazy muddle full of light and sound and confusion. A lightsaber being pressed into her hand, Clones advancing. Master Obi-Wan's voice, echoing hollowly. "What happened?"

"I rescued you," he said simply, shrugging. "I was hoping things would be resolved with the trial, but…well, you know how that went."

Yes. Yes, she knew, knew how it felt to be told that she had only hours to live, at the hands of people she had _trusted_, for something she hadn't done.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak for a moment.

"Where _was_ Anakin?" she asked once she had gathered herself, attempting to keep the betrayal out of her voice. The last she'd seen of him was him storming out of her cell to find Ventress.

"Searching," Master Obi-Wan said with a slight sigh, "And finding nothing, but keeping at it anyway until the verdict was publicly announced." He looked at her for a moment. "He probably would have staged his own breakout, but the Council had him under surveillance from the moment he arrived back, and they would have realised what he was up to before he even left the Temple."

So he had been there, just not _there_ in person. She'd known he would be, but at the same time, after his absence from the courtroom, she'd needed to ask to be certain. She'd had no one on her side there but Senator Amidala, and while Senator Amidala might be brilliant in the Senate, she was…not all that good as a lawyer.

No one but Senator Amidala - and, apparently, Master Obi-Wan.

Could this week get any weirder? First the bomb, and the investigation, then she was framed and on the run and Ventress was on the same side as her and now Master Obi-Wan, who she knew was by-the-book and who Anakin complained never contradicted the Council even when they were wrong, had broken her out of prison? All it needed now was Masters Windu and Yoda to swoop down and start doing a song and dance routine on the floor up.

She glanced towards the ceiling, and let out a relieved breath. No thumps from dancing Jedi Masters.

"Thank you," she said quietly to the man sitting opposite her. Master Obi-Wan inclined his head slightly, looking embarrassed.

She hadn't looked up at the Jedi Council during the trial. Hadn't wanted to see whether there was condemnation on their faces - or worse, indifference, like she was meaningless; just another cog in the war machine. Insignificant. Replaceable.

They were Jedi, _the_ Jedi. Weren't they supposed to care?

Wrenching her mind away from the topic - she had spent far too much time dwelling on it over the last few days anyway - she cast about for something else to think of, and blurted out, "What will they do when they find out you helped me?"

She kicked herself mentally as she saw him conceal a wince. _Great job Ahsoka, he helps you, and you thank him by throwing in his face what the consequences will be._ That was all she seemed to be good at, lately. Making things worse.

"I've deliberately not been dwelling on that," Master Obi-Wan muttered after a moment, and she kicked herself again. "Though I suppose it will serve us by indicating how reasonable they are willing to be right now."

"Aren't they supposed to be reasonable all the time?" The question came out a bit more snide than intended. But she had to ask, even though she knew already that they weren't. He gave her an open, tired smile.

"Seekers, not saints," was his soft answer. And she didn't really have a reply to that, because she could see that he honestly believed that even though the Council hadn't even sought the truth, and hadn't been seeking anything but her expulsion when she last saw them, because it was politically convenient for them.

He dug a small tin out of his belt. "Here."

She took it. Opened it. Inside was a white paste of some sort. "Er…"

"Face paint," he explained, apparently noticing her bewildered expression. "So you can disguise your markings."

That made sense, she supposed. It _would_ look less suspicious than finding another cloak and skulking around with her hood up like she had last time. Or borrowing Master Obi-Wan's robe, which they probably shouldn't use: someone might recognize that it was a Jedi robe. "Is there a mirror around here?"

"Through there," He nodded at where he'd entered the room, and gave her one of the mugs. "The water's safe, I tested it. No need for purifying."

Clearly, he'd thought of everything.

The bathroom she found through the door - which got stuck halfway through sliding open - was in about the same state as the sleep room she'd seen. Some of the tiles on the walls were missing, and the mirror had a long crack running through it, and was grimy except for a patch where the grime had been rubbed off, most likely with the slightly mouldy synthetic face cloth lying damply over the side of the sink. The clean(er) patch was drying with water streaks.

She could see why he'd felt the need to reassure her about the water quality.

Refilling the mug - she was _thirsty_ - she drank it down in a few long gulps before peering at her reflection. She'd not even considered changing her markings. Even when going undercover, she'd just used outfits and behaviour to make people assume she was what she seemed to be. Her face wasn't likely to be recognized, after all. All the attention went to people like Anakin, and Master Obi-Wan, not the Padawan. She wasn't famous like they were.

Only, they would recognize her, because the police would all have holo's of her, and there were wanted posters up, and bounties.

It felt _odd_, covering up parts of her face like this, but she managed, expanding the shapes on her cheeks into ovals, and colouring in parts of her forehead so she didn't have the somewhat distinctive "diamond" shapes visible. Then she expanded that too, to include that the lines that hovered above her eyes, because the sharp lines looked out of place now.

She barely recognized herself when she'd finished. But then, that was the point.

"What now?" she asked Master Obi-Wan after finishing up in the bathroom and coming back to find him staring thoughtfully at the one lightsaber she couldn't explain the presence of. He'd have to choose how deeply to involve himself in her mess. "And what's that?"

"A lightsaber," was the instant, droll reply, before he smirked slightly and explained, "I thought it might be wise to have a backup with me. As for the other part, I was thinking continuing your independent investigation?"

"That didn't work out so well," she warily replied. It _hadn't,_ and besides, it was _her_ investigation, not his.

Some of her thoughts must have shown somehow, because he stood up then, and looked her straight in the eyes.

"I'm not here to take this over, Ahsoka," he stated quietly. "But I am here to help."

"_Why?_" she asked, because nothing was that simple anymore, and for a moment she thought she saw a deep grief in his eyes. It was gone before she could be sure.

"Because what was done to you was wrong,"

Genuine. He actually - he was genuine. It sort of hurt, in a way.

"Now," he said briskly, breaking the moment, "What exactly _did_ happen with your investigation? How did you find the nano-droids? And," He hesitated for less than a second, "how was Ventress involved?"

It was a relief, in a way, to explain, to someone who believed. About Letta's death. About teaming up with Ventress, and Barriss' discovery, and then Ventress' betrayal and the nano-droids and being stunned by the Clones before she could explain _anything_…

**Next Chapter: Obi-Wan has questions about Ahsoka's story, and Ahsoka comes to an important realisation.**


	9. Suspicions

Chapter 9: Suspicions

Obi-Wan was frowning long before the end of her tale. He had hoped it would have cleared things up, and for a few things it did - like how she had found the warehouse with the nano droids - but all the new information did was create more questions.

"Where did Knight Offee get that information? And why didn't she come forward with it once you were captured?" Those were some of the most pressing ones, for the case. The ones it was important get answered, so her name could be cleared.

Ahsoka blinked. "She said she'd do some investigating the first time we talked. From that, I guess." His incredulity must have shown on his face - he _knew_ she knew to always verify where information was coming from when possible - because she want on the defensive. "We didn't exactly have long to talk; the Clones showed up to try and arrest us at about that point, and then Ventress attacked me at the warehouse and I got captured and I never got to ask her."

He reached for the Force for patience. It wrapped around him soothingly - but no answers. Still, he was grateful for what he had. It would, he hoped, be enough. "Are you sure it was Ventress?" It didn't sound like her, that double-cross. If she'd been planning on killing Ahsoka, she could have done that the first time they met down here. If she had been planning on framing Ahsoka, how had she known where to take her, and why hadn't she been the one to provide the information instead of _Barriss Offee,_ of all people. If Ventress had been looking into what had happened, then why attack Ahsoka instead of continuing to work with her? And why would she want to investigate anyway?

It just didn't sit right. In the past, when she'd been working for Dooku, she might have done something like that then; but nowadays?

He didn't think so. He could be wrong, of course, but he didn't think he was. And he had to check.

"It _looked_ like her," Ahsoka elaborated. "And how else would they have had her helmet and lightsabers?"

Obi-Wan felt a glimmer of…something. Sort of hope, sort of suspicion. "Helmet? You didn't see her face during the fight?"

"Well who else could it have been!?" she exclaimed in exasperation, eying him.

"The person who bombed the Temple and framed you, for starters."

From the way her eyes widened, she hadn't actually thought of that. "But I thought that was Ventress who bombed - "

"Yes. And that would be a reasonable conclusion," and not the true one, he hoped, "if Ventress were the one who attacked you at the warehouse, because the person who attacked you at the warehouse made sure to frame you for the possession of the nano-droids there, so it follows that they either were the bomber, working with them, or someone of an entirely different group who had something to gain by doing so. Given that they knew where the nano-droids were, and what time you would be there, I find the last unlikely."

"Ventress said she was after the bounty, initially," Ahsoka reiterated slowly, thinking it over. "I persuaded her to help me by, well," she gave him a sideways glance. "By pointing out the similarity of our positions."

His chest ached. "True," was all he trusted himself to say.

There was silence for a moment.

"But, if it wasn't her, how did they get the helmet and lightsabers? There was only a small gap between her leaving outside and her - whoever it was - attacking me. They would have had to beat her, and that would have been a noisy fight. Well, unless they snuck up on her. But someone'd have to be pretty good with the Force to do that."

He let her think that over aloud, before offering, "This hypothetical person was skilled enough with Ventress' lightsabers to beat you. And we know Letta was murdered using the Force by him or her."

"Her." Ahsoka stated firmly. "She _looked_ like Ventress, helmet, lightsabers, dressed in black…" She trailed off, staring into space. After a moment her eyes widened. "It - it wasn't her."

Obi-Wan tilted his head. "So it was a male-"

"No, _her_. Ventress." Ahsoka's voice was hushed, and she was speaking quickly, as though afraid the words would disappear if she didn't say them fast enough. "It looked like her, same body type and everything, but she wasn't wearing the same clothes, and she was shorter, I almost didn't see, the lighting was so poor, barely anything apart from our lightsabers and we were moving so fast, but it wasn't her. It _wasn't her_." She looked shocked. Almost ill. "It wasn't _her_, and I thought it _was…" _she leant against the wall, sliding down. "I thought it _was_, I didn't _realise_…" Her head dropped back against the wall, staring blankly.

Awkwardly he sat next to her. "That seems to be a favourite tactic of this person," he offered. "Pinning the blame on others."

She gave him a scathing look. He shifted uncomfortably. "It wasn't your fault, Ahsoka."

"It's the exact same thing!" Oh Force. How did he help? He wasn't any good at this sort of thing, none at all. He'd always dealt with his problems on his own, maybe with the silent support of his Master or the occasional council from Master Yoda, but largely on his own. Anakin never came to him with his problems. He didn't know how to offer the sort of support that would be _helpful_ right now. "I should have seen it, should have realised!" She'd sprung back to her feet, was pacing the room back and forth at slightly dizzying speed. He carefully climbed to his own feet, then placed himself in her path.

"You did."

She near skidded to a halt in front of him, face uncomprehending, that incomprehension quickly melting into anger. He hurried on. "You saw it just now. You figured them out, and now they won't be able to fool you like that as easily. Now, what happened to this mystery assailant?"

She was still fuming. But she wasn't shouting at him, or herself, which he considered a tentative success. "Don't know," She muttered. "No one else saw her. She chucked me with the nano-droids, and I saw her look down, and then she just up and vanished as the Clone's appeared." Her eyes flashed. "_Easily_?"

"As easily as someone who isn't watching out for it," he clarified, wincing mentally. After years with Anakin, he should have known better than to use a phrase like that. She was far too much like her Master - well, former Master - sometimes.

"Right." As suddenly as it had appeared, the energy and anger was gone, draining out of her. "So, I'll ask Barriss where she got the information. And we find Ventress."

"Are you sure?"

"Look, why wouldn't I be? Barriss is my friend, she was helping me when I was on the run, she told me where to find the nano-droids-"

"And thus led you straight into a trap."

"…What?"

Obi-Wan sighed tiredly. He hadn't got much sleep, too busy watching out for trouble and worrying that they would be found and _not_ thinking about what the Council would think and wondering how and when the gap between what was right and what was allowed had opened, and just how wide it was. "She led you to the warehouse, where you were attacked by a person who framed you for possession of nano-droid explosives, and who is likely the person who bombed the Temple. She may not have done so deliberately. Her source may have been the one setting you up, or the line may have been tapped, but either way, it's risky to contact her."

The former Padawan's face set stubbornly. "I made sure it couldn't be tapped or traced."

He acknowledged that with a brief incline of his head. "You did. But do you know if she did the same at her end? Knight Offee _is_ a Healer, not an espionage specialist."

He didn't voice his other suspicion. The line being tapped was possible, if unlikely, as for that the person would need to be close to the unguarded end of the call, which implied that they were in the Jedi Temple or shadowing Barriss Offee around. Then again, the person was probably a Jedi. And if Barriss Offee really was helping her friend and the call hadn't been the culprit, then it was likely she had just found rotten information, planted to get Ahsoka where the bomber wanted her.

"I - don't. Know, that is." Ahsoka reluctantly admitted

It was a possibility. Just a possibility at this stage. He'd see what happened next before bringing it up with Ahsoka. If he was wrong, and Offee _was_ on Ahsoka's side, then he didn't want to shatter the belief Ahsoka had in one of the few people she could still bring herself to trust. "So…"

She glared at him, before looking down. "I guess I - we - find Ventress. Once you disguise yourself."

One hand went to his naked face. "What, this not enough for you?"

She blinked uncertainly at him for a moment, before she saw the quirk of his mouth, realised he meant it humorously, and scowled at him. "You're still recognisable."

Personally, he rather thought that if someone recognised him without his beard, they would know him well enough to recognise him with other precautions, but this wasn't really about disguise. It was about trust. Though he still felt obliged to point out that, " You didn't recognise me at first," before he relented, ever-so-slightly-amused, as she folded her arms and attempted to imitate the _look_ he himself would give to Anakin when he wanted his former Padawan to stop evading his questions and just get to the point. "Well, what do you suggest?"

That brought her up short. "Er…" He waited as she thought, content in having distracted her from her self-recrimination. "Haircut?"

She was pushing him: testing whether he would stay or not. Making ridiculous demands (and it was ridiculous, and he knew she knew it,) to see whether that would push him away, because all her support had vanished, and she wasn't sure whether she could trust him to stick with her. He knew that. Even so…his _hair?_ He'd already temporarily sacrificed his beloved beard, holding a solemn silence and staring at the detached bristles for a long moment before letting them go and washing them away, and now she wanted him to cut his hair? He kept it short: cutting it would leave it at _Padawan_ length.

Well, it would grow back eventually.

"Right." There were no chairs, so he knelt so she'd be able to see what she was doing. "Just don't shave it all off."

There was a slightly shocked pause as she realised he'd actually complied, then a small snort of amusement. "I won't."

He smiled.

**Next Chapter: The Chancellor meets with Mace Windu, and Sidious plots.**


	10. Insidious Plots

Chapter 10: Insidious Plots

Sidious stared pensively across the city laid out before him. His city. His planet. And his galaxy, though he had yet to make that completely official. "Are you sure he has gone rogue, Master Jedi?"

In his persona of Palpatine, his voice was weary, worried, hoping that the news that was being delivered to him was not sure fact.

"Unfortunately, Chancellor, that is the case." Windu displayed no sign of it, but Sidious could _feel_ the headache the Jedi Master was experiencing. Another time, he would have revelled in it, but right now he was too busy figuring out what in the galaxy Kenobi was playing at.

"Rogue." Palpatine dragged a hand over his weary face. "Treason. A Jedi defecting to the Separatists. Do you know how much of public relations disaster this will be?" he questioned the Jedi, allowing a hint of sharpness into his voice. That would probably cause him a headache of his own were he not so adept at using the Dark side to fuel himself through many nights without sleep. He was going to have to reconfigure his whole plan for the war's next few months. "A Jedi so well-known and liked as Kenobi defecting does not speak well of the Republic or your Order." He walked back to his desk, dropping into the chair. Windu still stood there, stoically showing no emotion even though Kenobi was one of his friends.

"Kenobi has been expelled for his actions. He is no longer a Jedi."

"What?" Palpatine blustered even as Sidious' mind started to race. "But you said that you needed Tano present to expel her! Have you captured Kenobi already, or why could you not just have handed her over and then expelled her if that were possible?"

"Tano was believed to be acting on her own within the Order at that point." Windu gritted out. "Things have changed. Kenobi is - was - a Master, a Council member. And he has been fighting in this war for years. But in that time, he has come into contact with the Sith - I believe you have been briefed on Dooku - and their involvement changes the rules of expulsion."

Sidious' mind paused for a moment, and he dearly wanted to smirk. Palpatine gasped in horror. "Yes, yes I remember, and did you not claim one of them was behind the invasion of my planet, all those years ago too?" He shook his head. "But another betrayal as big as the Counts', and from a member of the Jedi High Council…" He felt a modicum of satisfaction in watching Windu force himself not to flinch at the memory of what had happened to his former Padawan, though it did not even come close to making up for the news the Jedi had brought. "I'm sorry, Master Windu, I didn't mean to bring up old pain."

"It is in the past," was the stoic reply that came after a deep breath. How Jedi. "Thank you for your time, Chancellor. I must get back to the Temple."

Avoiding the main issue, was he? Sidious waited until he was near the door before calling out. "Master Jedi." He watched the Jedi stop, waiting slightly impatiently for what he had to say. "Who will be conducting the search? I assume you are leaving it to the Clone's; I would hate to think what could happen should Kenobi and one of the other Jedi meet."

Of course, leaving it to the Clones meant leaving it to their non-Jedi officers, too. Windu's eyes hardened. "The Jedi will be involved. Kenobi was one of ours, it is our responsibility to take him down."

"Still," The Chancellor worried with the air of a man attempting to avert a likely disaster he could see on the horizon. "He was called the Negotiator for a reason after all, and from what Anakin tells me, he is good enough with a lightsaber to kill many of your members. We _cannot_ afford to lose more Jedi over this matter, either way. And the Clone's have proved they can manage when they defeated the traitorous General Krell."

"We will consider who we send carefully," was the stiff reply. "Is there anything else?"

"Just the one," the Chancellor of the Republic assured the Jedi. "How is Anakin holding up? It must be hard on him, first his Padawan, now his former Master doing something like this. I do hope he's not under suspicion or anything, I can personally attest to his character if you want-" He broke off, looking slightly embarrassed.

Windu sighed minutely. "Skywalker is not under suspicion, we have already questioned and cleared him. He is on his way back to the outer rim right now, as of" he checked his chrono, "twenty minutes ago. Master Yoda saw him off."

To prevent him from sneaking off to join Tano and Kenobi, no doubt. "Thank you, Master Jedi."

"We live to serve the Republic." Windu bowed. "Is there anything else…?"

"No, I think that is all, for now." He watched the Jedi leave. How very, very interesting.

It was a pity Anakin wasn't there, but being away from the centre of the action he really wanted to be involved with would likely have the same effect as Sidious whispering in his ear. While it would have been convenient to have the child here, it was not essential. He'd check the degree to which Anakin had been stewing when the child got back. The boy was so delightfully easy to manipulate, just a verbal nudge there, or a hesitation at the right moment, was enough to plant the seeds Anakin Skywalker would water and cultivate himself.

Take Windu, for example. Anakin frequently complained about Windu not trusting him, and even more often complained about Kenobi not taking him seriously, and had once declared that the pair of them were probably cooking up ways to inconvenience him in their spare time. It had been a ridiculous thought, and Anakin has been purposefully exaggerating at the time in order to make the story he was telling funnier, but a slight hesitation before he laughed had got Anakin thinking that Palpatine suspected that was not far off the truth.

Of course, now the boy would practically be worshiping Kenobi for his rescue of Tano. It was _irritating_, like Kenobi himself, with his habit of staying alive through situations that by all odds he _shouldn't_. Perhaps the Jedi Order itself would dispose of the man, though. It would certainly shake Anakin, having the Order murder his father figure.

He was slightly surprised the Jedi had expelled Kenobi already. Sidious would have thought Rattatak, and then Zigoola, would have shown them that the man was not someone easily turned - but it seemed their paranoia concerning anything Dark was asserting itself.

How nice of the one Jedi Master who might be able to stop his plan to turn Anakin Skywalker to the Dark side to completely alienate himself from the Jedi. He hadn't even needed prompting.

Since he was not behind this, he did need to sort out what Kenobi's motive was.

Sidious didn't think that Tyranus had managed to Turn Kenobi and take him as an apprentice - Sidious would have noticed it happening. And that meant that Kenobi had rescued Tano with Jedi morals in mind. He'd probably just found out she was innocent. How in the Galaxy he was certain of that, though…

Kenobi being killed by the Jedi would cement him in Anakin's mind as a good person, which was annoying, but memories could be warped, and it would definitely give him something concrete to be angry with the Jedi about. Instead of manipulating things so Kenobi broke ties with Anakin after Anakin Fell, he could have Kenobi as one of the main _reasons_ for Anakin's Fall - after all, he would just be following in his dear, betrayed former Master's footsteps. Kenobi must have seen the corruption in the Jedi - and they killed him for it. I have the power to help you avenge him, Anakin…and possibly save your wife from some as yet undecided threat while you're at it. He hadn't given up on that part of the plan, he'd been cultivating and encouraging Anakin's obsession with her for too long to let it go entirely to waste, but the irony of this one drew him.

Reminding himself not to get too far ahead of himself, he went to work on a statement.

**A.N. I know, rather short. The next chapter is back at my normal chapter length.**

**A huge thank you to everyone who's read/reading this, and an enormous thanks to my reviewers. I'm somewhat astounded by the response this has gotten.**

**Next Chapter: Obi-Wan finds out about his expulsion.**


	11. Realisations

Chapter 11: Realisations

Ahsoka kept glancing at Master Obi-Wan as they trekked across the underworld. (The only fast way was to take the trains that ran everywhere, and they'd decided that those would almost certainly be watched, and that the risk was too great. And very few people used speeders down here, except in designated lanes from one sector or level to another, and that would be as bad as the trains.) She hadn't thought he would actually agree, and was now feeling slightly guilty about the haircut.

She hadn't exactly trusted herself to do a complicated style, and the only thing they had had to cut it with was the razor he had used on his beard - and shouldn't that have been enough for her? Anakin teased him about his attachment to his beard every time the subject of attachment came up, and he'd got rid of it, he wasn't going to just take off and leave - so the result had ended up looking like a rather severe (and slightly uneven) Padawan cut, minus the tail and braid. She'd been afraid that her hand would slip and cut his head open the whole time, despite his reassurances. When she was finished, Master Obi-Wan had run a hand over his head with a bemused expression, then shrugged and started teasing her about opening a hair salon, using Anakin's old nickname for her.

He looked so much younger. It was probably just because she associated that sort of cut with youth, but he did. More open. There was a spark in his eyes that she rarely saw, one that usually only appeared when he was being dragged along on one of Anakin's insane mission improvisations and pretending not to enjoy himself.

Her face paint itched slightly, but it was definitely worth it when they strolled past a group of police, traded ponchos concealing their many lightsabers. (Master Obi-Wan had laughed when she'd explained that she'd used one last time because Anakin had said ponchos worked for almost any disguise, and said that that trick had been passed down from his own master. She'd tried to imagine him ever being a Padawan and failed. The look she had, given he probably just looked like now without the worry lines creasing his brow and the laugh lines that crinkled at the corners of his eyes, but _him,_ the person? She couldn't really think of him as anything but a Jedi Master in personality.) The ponchos concealed her distinctive dress and the variant of the armour he was wearing, and with their new looks no one had any reason to look at them other than the fact that they were looking out for a male human and female togruta. And that was easily avoided by not walking right side by side when they had to pass through busy streets.

But yes. And it wasn't like the Council would do anything other than demand he explain himself. Anakin had called him the Council's darling often enough, and she knew his record. He hadn't done anything other than rescue her. They'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

She wasn't bitter. She _wasn't._ It was just…it hurt, a bit. Just a little. Maybe.

She sped up to walk next to him, as soon as they were back in the alleyways and out of sight of the police, looking for the way to go. They needed to go both across and up, she really, really wasn't looking forward to the lift that would need.

So she probably should have released the association to the Force. But when? There hadn't been time, not since the lift had plummeted and she'd flashed into battle mode thinking _get out get out exit through the top so it doesn't crush you oh Force there's a __**civilian kid **__here - _

Before the kid had pressed the emergency stop button, and she'd crashed to the ground, slowly realizing that she wasn't in the middle of a battle, there was no blaster fire damage (other than the shot that had caused the plummet) or sabotage which would render the normal methods of stopping the lift ineffective.

There hadn't been _time_ between then and now for her to release it. There had always been something else demanding her attention; police, Ventress, nano-droids, Jedi, her trial, the escape - always something.

She'd probably have to wait until they were in the lift to deal with it too, since she couldn't afford to lose awareness of her surroundings and it wasn't so far they would need a stop to rest. Lunch break? No, they'd probably eat while walking. And she wouldn't have long enough even if they did stop to eat.

She was jerked from her thoughts by the boards flashing from various adverts and political speeches to Chancellor Palpatine. She noticed Master Obi-Wan stopping to watch. "Why-"

"This is the reaction to my breaking you out, I think," was the low reply. Right. He _was_ probably more in tune with the Force than her right now, since she'd been brooding and he'd been letting it guild him through the maze that was the back alleyways of the underworld. Plus, Jedi Master. They leaned against a wall to watch as the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic began speaking to all Coruscant.

"Citizens of the Republic, it is my devastating duty to report the information to you on one of the people the Republic has trusted in these dark hours, who we have relied on to defend us on the front lines, has now gone rogue. Former Master of the Jedi Order-"

"Guess you _are_ on probation 'till you explain yourself then," Ahsoka muttered, slightly shocked. Master - no, not Master at the moment - Obi-Wan gave her a small, wry smile before turning his attention back to the billboard.

"Former member of the Jedi High Council, former General in the Grand Army of the Republic Obi-Wan Kenobi has committed treason against the Republic by breaking convicted murderer, saboteur and suspected separatist agent Ahsoka Tano out of the prison where she was being held before her execution, which was scheduled this morning.

"The Jedi Council's remaining members have denied any involvement in or prior knowledge of Kenobi's actions, and have backed that up by expelling him from the Jedi Order on the grounds of his actions.

"Please report any sightings of Kenobi or Tano to the nearest official, and do not, I repeat do _not_ attempt to engage either. Kenobi and Tano are armed and highly dangerous, and their captures are being declared of the highest priority to ensure the safety of the Republic and all the beings in it."

Ahsoka stopped listening. Obi-Wan was staring at the screen in shock, his skin having drained of colour to moment the words "expelled from the Jedi Order for his actions" had been broadcast. After a long, numb, moment, she blurted, "I take it this means they're not going to be all that reasonable."

He started, then stared right through her for a moment. "…No," he whispered at last, as the boards returned to what they were doing before. His voice was raspy, as though he hadn't drunk enough water for some time or, more likely, his mouth had gone dry. He looked shocked. Lost. Vulnerable, and the thought should have been ridiculous but it wasn't, because he was standing there looking like his entire world had been yanked out from under his feet. "I don't think they are."

"Hey, are you okay?" She had to ask, because he certainly didn't look it.

"No," he repeated quietly without appearing to think about it, then winced. "I'm sorry-"

He looked wretched. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. "Look, if you want to go back, explain, I - I won't stop you." Belatedly, she realised how ridiculous that sounded. He'd risen to near the top of the Jedi Order and the Grand Army of the Republic for a reason, and she wasn't, hadn't been, even a Knight yet. Like she _could_ stop him if she wanted to. And she wouldn't make the attempt, because right now, he was hurting, the pain leaking past his shields. He never let that happen.

"What?" He sounded startled, bewilderment tinging his voice. "No, I…no. I'm not. I won't." He let his back slide down the wall, letting out a desolate chuckle. "They wouldn't take me at the moment anyway. I'd be dead before I reached the entrance."

Huh? It was her turn to be confused. "What in the stars do you mean?" she burst out, because this might be the Council, and she did not have a particularly high opinion of them lately, but - "They wouldn't-"

"They would, right now." His voice sounded hollow. He shook his head. "I…but they _would_…"

He sounded certain. "But-" they knew him. And helping her couldn't be a capital offense, could it? Her stomach tightened. If it was - if she hadn't realised -

"How much," he interrupted her thoughts, speaking slowly, as though unable to find quite the right words, "do you know about how beings are, and can be, expelled from the Jedi Order?"

_Okaaaay…_not much. It wasn't like it was all that common. (Except, apparently, this week.) "Er, through trial in the Hall of Judgment, like me. But…" she frowned, willing the memory of the information into her conscious mind. "But you'd have to be present, right?"

"I would." There it was again, that haunted, hollow tone.

"So…" She wracked her brain. "This doesn't apply, but wasn't there something about proof of Dark-side-ness as an exception to that?"

He looked up at her, raw pain in his eyes. "Yes, but that's a separate part, not an exception. Or The Exception."

Exception? With a capital letter at the front and a "The" before it, from the way he'd said it? That did not sound good. She swallowed again, this time to counter her mouth's sudden dryness. "I take it this `The Exception` is what they used?"

Obi-Wan's gaze shifted back to the billboard which had delivered the news. "I think so." He shook his head. "I wouldn't have believed it, but - I wasn't there, and I'm not Dark, and I haven't made any sort of false confession they could use…it's the only way they could have done it." He wrapped his arms around his middle, looking miserable.

Oh no…"Just what is it?" she ventured warily when it became clear that he wasn't going on, instead lost in his own thoughts. _Good thing no-one's wandered down here._

He closed his eyes. "The Exception," he said, very, very quietly, so she had to crouch down next to him to hear, "is a way of bypassing proof or confessions or a trial in expelling a person from the Jedi Order," yeah, she'd got that much, "for use in the emergency of suspected defection to the Sith."

…Oh.

Well, kriff.

"And they-"

"There's nothing else they could have used." She pretended not to notice the slight waver in his voice. A long moment later he gave her a tremulous smile and levered himself up. "1315, correct?"

There was no way he would have forgotten where they were headed, but she played along. "'15's the warehouse, I met her on '12."

"Well, last known location first." He closed his eyes for a moment. "I think we're almost below it. Lead the way."

Lifts. Great. She forced a smile in return, because he looked like he needed it. "Sure."

**A.N. Ahsoka's actions in the lift didn't make much sense to me, so I came up with this explanation. Also, yes. That is what The Exception is.**

**...Why am I getting the feeling there's about to be an outpouring of Council hate?**

**Next Chapter: Returning to the scene of the crime.**


	12. Tracks

Chapter 12: Tracks

Ahsoka had been jittery in the lift for some reason, and they'd had a slight shock when they came out of the lift to find some police monitoring the area, (though they had thankfully not been recognised,) but nothing had happened to them on their way to the warehouse. Nothing more, anyway.

The place was trashed. Ahsoka didn't seem surprised, so that wasn't something that had happened since her fight here. They didn't get too close; there was police barriers around the place, unmanned for the most part by anything but a few patrol droids and standard sensors. Reconnaissance first.

"We parted in front of the building, right there," Ahsoka whispered from beside him, pointing. "She went off to the left, I think."

Into the alleys between close packed buildings, and away from the police site. Good. They backed away from the corner, starting to circle around.

"I'm sorry I got you into this."

Obi-Wan blinked at the unexpected statement, looking over. She looked…dejected.

"You got me into nothing, young one. I choose to help you of my own free will."

Her shoulders slumped. "Yeah, but you couldn't have known how the Council would react." She sighed miserably. "How did they even get to that idea anyway? You're pretty much the furthest thing from a Sith it's possible to get. On the opposite end of the spectrum."

"Furthest?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "Everyone has the potential for Darkness. I'm not an exception." His mouth twisted as he realised what he'd just said, and he added, "To that rule, anyway."

That earned him a choked, somewhat shocked cough of laughter, and he assumed an innocent expression as she poked his shoulder. "So that's where Anakin got the terrible sense of humour from."

"It took you this long to figure that out?" he asked, his voice extremely dry. He ignored her roll of her eyes, focusing on coming up with a clinically detached answer. "As for the question, I'm not entirely sure how they got to that." He shrugged. "They said it was for my `actions`, but…well, the Chancellor did say breaking you out constituted treason."

"And they went from `treason` to `oh dear Force if someone's not following us blindly then they must be a Sith`?"

_Apparently._ Bitterness was not a good idea, he reminded himself immediately as the thought surfaced."They _have_ been slightly jumpy about that sort of thing ever since Dooku revealed himself," Obi-Wan defended them, then stopped. "Oh Force. Dooku. No wonder they jumped to conclusions."

"_Wrong_ conclusions," Ahsoka muttered, and he felt his heart warm. It helped, a little. "And how is the _Count_ involved in any of this?"

"Because Dooku taught Qui-Gon."

"And…"

Surely she knew the Master-Apprentice linage they were part of? "And Qui-Gon was the one who taught _me."_

Ahsoka looked unimpressed. She did know, then. "So? Okay, its bit odd and disturbing to think about, but he _left_, and _then_ he Fell. That doesn't reflect on you! He would have taught Master…Jinn?" he nodded, and she carried on, "This Master Jinn well before he left. He'd have been a _Jedi_ at that point, which I _cannot_ picture, but he wouldn't have been passing down Sithly teachings!"

Struck by a sudden image of Dooku striding through the Temple in red and black, casually tossing various Jedi out of his way with bursts of Force lightning and then stopping to greet the Council, none of who so much as batted an eyelid, with a teenage, scowling Qui-Gon in tow, (who's expression he felt slightly guilty for basing on Anakin's teenage melodramatics,) Obi-Wan was unable to respond for a moment. He shook himself free of it. "Maybe so, but there was something that caused him to fall - and no one in the Jedi Order really knows what. Have you listened to any of the debates about it?"

She shook her head.

"Well, most have ruled out shoddy teaching. Yoda's had a lot of Padawan's over the years, and this is the first time one of them has Fallen. There is the opinion that it was because he was too attached to his former Padawan, and when Qui-Gon died his leaving instead of releasing his grief to the Force sealed his fate. Personally, I think that was just the last straw. Form what I heard at the time, he'd been growing disillusioned with the Order for years. Said we" he stopped. Swallowed, and blinked a few times. "That the Order was getting too involved in politics, that the Jedi would not be able to follow the will of the Force if they were that closely tied to the Senate. He was of the opinion that that growing closeness had caused the Council to become as indecisive as the worst of the Senate's bureaucracy, and when they disbelieved Qui-Gon's report that he believed he and I had encountered a Sith and sent us back to Naboo without any back-up, and Qui-Gon was killed, well…"

"You know a lot about what he thought."

_Now_ she looked slightly weirded out. He shrugged. "The whole Temple knew. The topic flared up at the beginning of the war, but it was almost the only thing anyone could talk about back when he left. I had Jedi I'd never met offering me condolences."

"Condolences?" she repeated sceptically. He realised with some sadness she'd never known Dooku as anything other than someone who left the Order, and then as a Sith Lord who had maimed her Master. Never really heard of the Jedi Master Yan Dooku had been.

"He was well respected." He sighed. "I think…I would have liked to have had the chance to meet him before he fell. I suspect that person was rather different to the Sith I fought on Geonosis."

"If you say so." Her expression had changed to `dubious`, if he was remembering the labels Anakin had given the various faces she used when she had an opinion that she felt she shouldn't really say aloud correctly. "So they're being idiots because of your barely-existent connection to Dooku?"

It was a little more that barely existent. They were of the same teaching line - but maybe that was why she wasn't bothered by her own connection to the fallen Jedi, even though she only thought of Dooku as the Sith he was now.

"I imagine that's at least a part of it." Then he frowned as the other part of her statement truly registered. "Did you just call the Council idiots?"

"Yes." With that, she set her jaw, strode ahead - and then jerked to a stop, listening to the Force. "Okay, found her trace."

Setting aside the `idiots` comment - it wasn't like he had much of an idea what they were thinking either - "She actually left one?" He'd not thought she would. Asajj Ventress was very adept at hiding her presence.

"Yeah, but it's pretty faint." She looked towards the direction they could both feel the echoes of determined desperation coming from - the warehouse. Ahsoka slowly started away from it, eyes half closed.

He followed, letting her take the lead and keeping an eye out for any potential problems she would miss, being so focused on the faint traces that Ventress' presence had left. The area was almost deserted; derelict, with the police having scared off any who might use that to take shelter there, but it didn't pay to take chances.

He could just barely sense the trace of Ventress' Force presence without putting his focus into it like Ahsoka had. It felt rather like her Force presence had on that stolen cargo vessel when she'd come to rescue him, which was a relief. She needed a chance for healing after what her life had been like, not more destruction.

Ahsoka kept going until she found a place where the trace became muddled. She scowled at it, attempting to make sense of the impressions she was receiving before scowling more as she realised she couldn't, hesitating, then asking, "Would you?"

He nodded and closed his eyes. He wasn't as good at sensing the history of places as some of his cont - former contemporaries, but his strength _was_ in the unifying aspect of the Force, and he'd picked up some tricks over the years. He carefully immersed himself in the Force, looking for the traces, the impressions left behind by another being passing here - and then he found the source of the muddle, and looked it over. It was confusing, but if he focused, strained his sight to its limit, separated the time down further… "She came down here, was…startled?…by something, moved a few more steps worth and then it…dissolves is the best word I can think of. I think she was knocked out, because she appears - later in the time flow, more recently - at a different time, sharp and hard around the edges, before vanishing." He opened his eyes again, feeling the clarity fade as he returned to the physical galaxy. "I suspect she shielded. Why she wasn't doing so in the first place, I have no idea."

"How…?"

"Time." He rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming from focusing quite so closely on such faint impressions. Even when not completely hiding her presence in the Force, Ventress was…quiet. The impressions were already fading, like small ripples on a body of water. "There were two impressions from the same person, pretty similar impressions at that, on top of each other. Both formed within a very short period of time, which was what was needed to separate them." A throbbing started up in his skull, aggravated by the headache. Wonderful. Just what he needed. "Do you want to look around more or have we found all you think we're going to here?"

She wanted to look around more, but after an hour scouring the area for any more clues with no results other than lost time, Obi-Wan put his foot down. "Unless you think we're actually going to find something here, then we've hit a dead end, and need to look elsewhere."

Ahsoka looked like she might argue for a moment, then slumped against a wall, deflating. "I don't suppose you have _any_ idea what to do next?"

So that was why she'd kept at it. Ahsoka might be advanced for her age in lightsaber use and shielding and leadership, but her entire training had taken place at war. That, the front lines, were what she knew, and had been trained to survive. Not careful investigation. She'd have learned in her initiate classes, but that had been years ago, and half remembering the theory was nowhere as good as seeing the lessons in action. And she'd always had some kind of clue or general direction to follow when investigating the bombing for the Council. "Head to a bar. Ventress was willing to attack you for the bounty, so we inquire if there's any bounty hunter in the area that might be willing to take on a Jedi, and see what they know."

"But won't they notice _we've_ got bounties on our heads?" She gave him a rather sceptical frown. It was a fair question, considering the sort of place that might have the information they were looking for would be crawling with bounty hunters, but he had an answer ready.

"We're got lightsabers if it comes to the worst. But we'll split up on entering: we look different enough that alone, we shouldn't be recognised. They're looking for the pair of us, not a lone, possibly mando'a, mercenary, and a lone whatever cover story you choose. We can let each other know if we find something through the Force." He knew from Anakin that she was able to keep her shields up and still communicate. Anakin had taught her so she could call for backup while fighting a Dark sider even if she had no comm link. He had a feeling she would not want to take them down.

.

They found the bounty hunter bar a half hour later, after asking directions from one of the many homeless people in exchange for more food, and a bit of a walk. During that time, Obi-Wan mused that they were burning through their supplies a bit faster than he had anticipated and Ahsoka came up with Sumalee Dan, a teenage runaway from the outer rim who had been a small league bounty hunter for two and a half years and had moved to the core through smuggling herself onto the first cargo transport she could find after a run in with the local Hutt's enforcers. When Obi-Wan asked her what reason Sumalee had for asking about a bounty hunter willing to take on Jedi, she'd thought for a moment, then decided that she had heard there was a bounty on a pair of rogue Jedi and while she knew she wouldn't be able to take them on, she was wondering if there was anyone who could, and hoping to develop to near that skill level.

Obi-Wan himself had gone for a battle-hardened Mandalorian survivor of the purges, a disguise backed up by the burn scar on his jaw from some piece of hot shrapnel that he'd known was there but not really ever noticed until he'd shaved his beard, and his slightly weathered appearance. He'd kept a low profile, not wanting to draw the Jedi's attention, but that much money was tempting, and he was wondering if there might be any competition.

(It was unlikely they'd have to actually use all of that, but it was best to have it on hand - and also a rather fun distraction from brooding for them both, coming up with them.)

As the less conspicuous on the two (due to the fact that he wasn't a teenager) Obi-Wan entered first, lightsabers length ways along the back of his belt to disguise their shape under the poncho. He still had one of the blasters, which would suffice for visible weaponry, since he had a feeling that this was the type of place where there was little respect for people who weren't armed.

He plonked himself down near both the bar and display of bounties. Sure enough, there were pictures of himself and Ahsoka, side by side. Their pictures form their Council profiles - the ones kept on every Jedi to better match missions to skill sets and level of ability - he assumed, recognising his.

Ahsoka wasn't as unnoticed as him on entering, one of the blasters he'd taken in the holster they'd detached from his armour on her thigh, and her lightsabers side by side under her poncho, the shape of which gave the impression of another blaster. There were a few whistles of appreciation as she walked over to the screen and began sorting through the lower-priced bounties, and he had to quickly stifle a grin as she made a rude gesture in return.

A guy sitting near to him at the bar elbowed his friend. "Who's that kid? Never seen her 'round before."

"Dunno," his companion slurred, blinking blearily in Ahsoka's direction, then snorting. "Got a blaster."

Shaking his head slightly, Obi-Wan moved to join them, roughening his accent until it sounded as though it had come from Mandalore, then wandered around the outer rim. "Hallo. I don't suppose you'd know if there's anyone about right now who might be up for taking on a Jedi?" Might as well get straight to the point.

The not-as-drunk one looked at him. "Lookin' at the bounty on the Jedi, are yeh? Don' bother. Kenobi's lived the front lines o' this bloody war since the start, yeh won' be able teh match that."

Obi-Wan gave him a thin smile, kicking his feet up. "Leave it up to me to judge who I can and can't take on. And is there?"

The drunker one snorted again, then burped loudly. "Never heard of yeh, yeh can't be good 'nough to take a _Jedi_. Still, your funeral. There was a chick round here not long back who was plannin' to take them, back when it was just the one, I think, but she vanished. Guess the kid got her." He shook his head. "Bloody Jedi."

Obi-Wan ruthlessly squashed the part of him that currently agreed with the man on that last bit. "Where could I find her?"

"_I_ don' know. Ask Lorn over at the screen there, he's the one who keeps track o' that sorta thing."

Obi-Wan thanked them and left them to their stupor, slipping through the crowd to what seemed like the person who was managing the screen and answering the occasional question thrown his way. "You Lorn?" he growled.

"What's it to you?" gruff, but polite for one of these places, which made sense given the man would make more money from the bars' managers the more people came to use the screen.

Obi-Wan crossed his arms, simultaneously intimidating and showing that he wasn't planning an immediate attack. "I was told you'd know where to contact someone who might be interested in taking on those two." He gestured with his hand up at his own and Ahsoka's pictures. Lorn's eyes widened slightly.

"You sure you're in that league?"

Twisting his face into a snarl, Obi-Wan gritted, "Near enough, and it's not often a chance like _this_ comes around. Paid to get a Jedi, without the whole bloody Order coming down on your head?" He forced a smirk. "Sweet."

Lorn looked unconvinced. "Well, there is one round here, as a matter of fact. A woman, bald, ex-sep who's fought Jedi in the past. Uses lightsabers." The man hesitated, then lowered his voice, leaning in. "She came through a few hours ago, covert, said people could find her on the level 1312 D, pretty near here, if they were interested in the bounties." He straightened back up and shrugged. "You won't find anyone else here. People that good tend to either be working for someone or in the outer rim where the real money is."

Obi-wan nodded. "At least there's someone. Thanks."

Lorn nodded in return, and Obi-Wan left, tapping mentally on Ahsoka's shields as he went. She met him ten minutes later, a few streets away. "I hope you got a better answer than, `there was, and she left a contact location near here for those interested, then disappeared`," she grumbled. He nodded.

"1312 D."

"An entire section?!" Her expression was aghast. "Oh, what _fun_ this'll be, then." Then she stopped and looked at him oddly. "The status on our bounties changed just as you left by the way, saying one person was known to be on it. Did you just take out a bounty on yourself?"

Obi-Wan had seen Lorn turning to the screen out of the corner of his eyes as he left, and wasn't really surprised. "He seems to have taken it that way. And it will discourage others, knowing that they have competition."

"Right." She mulled it over for a moment. "That makes sense." The teen heaved a sigh. "Now we just have to find Ventress in a ridiculously large area."

"It's not that bad," he offered. "She left that there in case people wanted to contact her, so she'll have some way of detecting people. And the - we have the Force." He'd almost said, `the Force will guide us,` but it hadn't said anything to anyone about this whole incident, as far as he was aware. It was somewhat worrying, but he pushed it aside, along with his wonderings about just why Ventress had left a contact for people interested in going after himself and Ahsoka.

"The sooner we start the sooner we get it done, right?" Ahsoka did roll her eyes as she recited the adage against procrastination. "All right."

**A.N. Wow, that was long. I can't say I'm all that happy with it – it felt clunky, for some reason – but it's done, and it wasn't getting better with revision, so…****here it is. Constructive criticism would be much appreciated.**  


**Next Chapter: Obi-Wan and Ahsoka and Ventress meet.**


	13. Alliance

Chapter 13: Alliance

They wandered down to 1312 D, taking the time to just breathe, in between dodging the police patrols.

"They're_ everywhere_," Ahsoka muttered as they hid from and waited for yet another dark green clad group of Coruscanti lower police to pass them by. Obi-Wan's mouth quirked slightly.

"There is a saying about returning to the scene of the crime," he pointed out. She scowled.

"I didn't _do_ it!" she winced at the whine that came out as, and his resulting ever-so-slightly-amused-and-attempting-not-to-show -it-expression. Great, now she had picked up one of Anakin's most annoying traits.

"I know that, and you know that," was the far too reasonable reply, "But they do not. That is why we are searching for a way to prove it in the first place."

It was almost night, by the chrono Obi-Wan had, when they reached it. They'd avoided the police guarded lifts - they'd been fortunate once, no need to push it - and so had spent most of the clambering down and finding other ways between the floors, being careful not to get spotted. Or noticed by the police.

"This is it," Obi-Wan's weary voice sounded as they came across a sign with an arrow pointing to "Section D," that claimed it was just a little further. Ahsoka just nodded, wondering how in the Galaxy the encounter would go. Ventress hadn't exactly been smiles and rainbows when she'd teamed up with her, or even all that friendly.

"You sure this is a good idea?"

"Define good," was the decidedly not helpful answer. Ahsoka rolled her eyes behind his back. Force, it was just like when she'd been sent on missions with him and Anakin, when they were in transit with little to do.

He was taking the whole being expelled issue rather well, all things considered. Or possibly just hiding his reaction from her, which seemed more likely, especially considering he hadn't just been expelled, but expelled and accused of being a Sith.

She knew she would not have taken that nearly as calmly as he had managed to do.

They had no right! Obi-Wan had helped her, upholding the Jedi principles of justice and putting the needs of others before yourself, and this was how they reacted? Because his Grand Master had left after he had become a Knight, (it was after this Master Jinn's death, and she knew the story of him being Knighted for killing the Sith who killed his master, so he would have been a Knight, and Anakin would have been a young Padawan, she was pretty sure,) and then Fallen, just because of that, they had decided to just go and accuse him of being a Sith the first time he did something they didn't like? Couldn't they _see_, that _neither_ of them would have done the things they were accused of?

Obi-Wan faltered and stopped walking for a moment as they entered Section D of level 1312. "Please calm, Ahsoka. You're radiating negative emotion."

It was the pained tone of his voice that caught her attention, more than the words. She swallowed, attempting to release the anger and feeling slightly hollow after. "How do you do it?"

He looked puzzled. "Do what?"

"Stay so calm. Not get angry at them, even though they _really_ deserve it. How?"

He stared off thoughtfully. "To the first, practice. To the second…" he sighed. "It's not a matter of if they deserve my anger or not. I…tend to view it as not letting my emotions control my reactions. Sometimes, the Force leads us into experiences that we can't see the point of, or the Dark Side interferes and clouds things. We can't control that. _Mastery of the self is the only mastery that matters._ We can choose whether we let those events lead us down the path of fear, to anger, to hate, to suffering and darkness, or whether we don't let them have that emotional control over us." He gave a wry smile. "That's the theory, anyway. It…knowing that they believe the worst of me…it hurts, I'll admit that. I imagine it does for you as well. But pain - how do I put this?"

He stared off into space for a moment. "If you pull a muscle, that hurts. The cause of the pain is the damaged muscle, and it's letting you know that it's not in condition to keep being used. Pain is a deterrent to pushing your body to train so hard that you pull muscles, but there's always a chance that a pulled muscle will happen anyway. Do you let that stop you from training?"

"No…" was Ahsoka's slightly confused answer. He seemed relieved.

"Exactly. It's a warning that something's wrong, and there's always the chance that something _will_ go wrong, but you consider training worth that risk. Emotional pain is trickier, but if I let myself fear that pain, it will take me somewhere I refuse to go. It's being aware that I could hurt, and doing whatever it is that I know could hurt me anyway, because letting fear, or pain, or the fear of pain stop you from doing the right thing is something that no Jedi should ever do.

"But pain, _suffering_, should be avoided where possible. And…I suppose fear leads to anger to hate to suffering applies here. Only, all those emotions cause suffering to the person feeling them. The suffering mentioned is the point where the person gets to the point where they turn their internal suffering on the world around them, and cause it suffering in the attempt to alleviate their own. And often, that only makes them feel worse, or causes them to justify their actions with more hate." He stopped, suddenly seeming to realise something, then gave an embarrassed smile. "I'm sorry, I got sidetracked. I know Anakin always finds me rambling on boring."

"No." Anakin found that boring? …Actually, she supposed she could see that; he never discussed Jedi philosophy with her unless absolutely forced to. For her hearing another take on the subject was always interesting, simply because she didn't get to do so often. "It's not. Boring, that is." Though, it might be if it was repeated over and over, as Anakin had told her Obi-Wan often did, but she hadn't heard his take on this before. "You were saying?"

He coughed, turning his head to hide the embarrassed flush on his cheeks. "Well, to get back to the point, calm is feeling at peace. Accepting whatever it is that's caused the pain, and learning from it, but not fearing it, not letting it drag you into the spiral down. _I_ know who and what I am, and that is far more important to me than what someone else thinks I am. And…" He trailed off for a moment, closing his eyes, before continuing quietly, "It…it does hurt, knowing they think that about me, but _I_ know I'm not. For example: if I were given the choice between going back and changing the past so I didn't rescue you and didn't get hurt by the Council's accusations, or letting it all play out, knowing full well what the consequences to myself would be, I would let it play out. Because I can't let fear of hurting prevent me from doing the right thing."

Speechless, Ahsoka stared at him. He held her gaze seriously for a moment, then gave a self-conscious shrug. "It's just the truth."

They were interrupted by the slow, sarcastic claps coming from behind them, and they spun around to find Ventress standing there, a bitter scowl on her face. "Very eloquent Kenobi, now was there a reason you two decided to bother me? Again?"

Ahsoka glared at her, unable to not notice that this time, Ventress was without a helmet, and her lightsabers were missing. "Did you see the person who attacked you after you left the warehouse?"

Surprise - and was that relief? - flickered across Ventress' expression. "What's it to you? I heard you thought _I_ attacked you."

It was her turn to look down. She still couldn't believe she'd fallen for that. "I…was wrong. It just - There wasn't time to think! And I didn't sense anyone else, and later I thought you'd just decided to turn me in for the bounty after all or something." She felt her shoulders slump. A gentle hand landed on one of them, and she heard Obi-Wan's voice, calm and measured.

"Think of it as a compliment," he suggested mildly. "This mysterious impostor beat Ahsoka quite thoroughly, from what she said."

Ventress snorted. "They snuck up on me. Not just anyone can do that, I'm not surprised they were able to beat Tano." She looked at Obi-Wan. "Somehow, I always thought you were older than you look right now."

Obi-Wan just groaned. "Do I really look that young?"

A mocking smirk curled around the ex Sith Assassin's mouth as she tilted her head to the side, peering at him through half closed eyes. He shifted slightly uncomfortably. "Younger than last time we ran into each other. But then, you were the one taking a beating then. With that terrible haircut? Twenties."

Ahsoka resisted the sudden urge to defend her haircut. Okay, it wasn't the greatest, and did sort of look like a Padawan cut, which the harpy had no doubt noticed, but it wasn't _terrible_. Just…not all that good.

Obi-Wan just looked exasperated. "I'm charmed, my dear. Now would you be so kind as to tell us whether you saw them or not?"

Ventress looked at him for a long moment, considering. Ahsoka focused on listening and not scowling at how Ventress had automatically started speaking to Obi-Wan instead of her. She seemed to respect him more, anyway, so he'd be more likely to get the answers they needed. "Not well. They ambushed me from behind, I only saw that they were in black, with a cloak." She jerked her head from one side to the other, violently. "I do have another thing you might find useful, though. On one condition."

"And what condition is that?"

Ventress' lip curled. "I want in. I want to find that thief with you, and when I do, I am going to get my lightsabers back and pay them back for thinking they could ambush me and take them, and use them to drag my name into your disaster."

Ahsoka found herself sympathising with Ventress for a moment. Okay, that was just plain weird. Obi-Wan just looked unperturbed. Like he'd done when they'd turned around…had he known Ventress was behind them? "What type of thing is it that you're offering?"

"I found one of their bases."

"I see." Obi-Wan's tone was measured. "Give us a moment."

He and Ahsoka went to the end of the deserted alleyway, Ahsoka stopping them there. She didn't particularly want Ventress out of her sight. Irrational? Maybe.

"What do you think?"

She felt a warm glow. He caught her surprised glance. "It's your investigation, Ahsoka. Besides, we don't exactly have ranks anymore."

_We. _He was in this just as much as she was. "It's _Ventress_." Moment of sympathy non-withstanding. "Why does she want in anyway?"

He put a hand to his chin, in what Anakin had termed his `thinking pose`. The effect was somewhat lessened by the lack of his beard. "Well, she did say she wanted her lightsabers - that's a perfectly reasonable motivation. Revenge is less reasonable, but not unexpected. And exposing and discrediting them may be enough." He shrugged. "It might not. We'd have to wait and see."

Ahsoka looked at him. "You think we should let her come along." Her voice was flat.

Obi-Wan looked back along the ally to where Ventress was leaning against the wall, watching them impatiently. "Yes. Back up is always a good thing to have. And she held to her word, when you teamed up. And…" he hesitated. Ahsoka waited.

"And the last time she and I encountered each other, I was in pretty bad shape," he went on eventually, voice quiet. "She could have taken advantage of that, but she didn't. Even took me back to the edges of Republic space, when we were stuck in that escape capsule, before flying off on her own." He gave a half smile. "Besides, you never got the chance to speak on her behalf, and you won't unless we prove your innocence. She knows that. But it's your choice."

Ahsoka looked at his earnest expression, then over at Ventress, watching them with jaded eyes and a bitter sneer. There was nothing from the Force to say which choice to make. She sighed.

"Alright."

**A.N. When Master Kenobi wants to give a lecture, he's going to give a lecture regardless of what I have to say on the matter, it seems. At least I managed to persuade him to cut it down.**

**And a huge, huge thank you to all my brilliant reviewers. *hugs* 100+! I think I'm still in shock.**

**Next Chapter: Mace reports back to the Council, and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka catch some rest at Ventress' place.**


	14. Conversations

Chapter 14: Conversations

Mace Windu was exhausted. First that tense meeting with the Chancellor, then he had been stopped by almost every single senator in the building, pulled into several war strategy meetings against his will - the threat being that Jedi did not need to be seen to be neglecting their war duties in a time of uncertainty - stopped by even more senators, including a rather irate Amidala who was defending Kenobi as one of the "Heroes of Naboo" and wanted to know where Anakin Skywalker was. (And who hadn't been too happy with the answer he'd given her.) Then he'd endured a talk with some senior military figures who were upset that a Jedi could get in and out of their facilities at wish - Kenobi's reputation had actually come in handy for the first time that day, as he reminded them that Kenobi was one of the best, and had experience breaking into high security buildings to rescue prisoners. Then he'd been ambushed by the press, which had taken hours to extract himself from, since every time he used his scowl, they started muttering about Jedi conspiracies, forcing him to stay and correct their opinions, with questionable success.

Not that he showed it, though the fact that he'd taken as long as he had probably spoke for itself to his fellow Councillors who, as soon as he had returned, had hurried to the Council chamber from the tasks they had busied themselves with around the Temple or flickered into their seats.

"The Chancellor recommended that we stay out of it."

Mace looked around the circle, seeing his own displeasure with the suggestion echoed on many of the faces. He went on, "He is concerned that since contact with the Sith Turned Kenobi," he still found it hard to believe that he was actually saying that, "contact between any Jedi we send out and Kenobi - and possibly Tano - could lead to even more problems of this sort."

There was more than a hint of mutiny in the tone of voice Ki-Adi used to reply. "The Clones would not be able to take Kenobi down without massive losses, if at all. Tano was one thing, but the Sith are a Jedi matter."

"I agree," Mace nodded. The Chancellor was not a fighter, and was seriously underestimating Kenobi if he thought the Clones could take him down. "I did manage to make sure he did not hand it over to the GAR. Which leaves the question of just what we do."

The Council contemplated that in silence for a moment.

"A point the Chancellor has," Yoda admitted. "Well liked Kenobi was. Masters only, we should send."

That made sense. Those they sent would also need to be able to take on the man - there were not many Jedi who had that skill level. "And have them take some clones as backup. The 501st are with Skywalker, but the Wolfpack are still here." He swept his gaze around the room. "As are the 212th."

He got several disbelieving looks. "Think that not opposed to hunting down their former General, they might be?" Yoda exclaimed incredulously. There were nods.

"Kenobi could use that." Shaak Ti's blue image frowned at him.

"I was thinking of the Krell situation," Mace countered, but Yoda shook his head.

"Treated the Clones badly, Krell did. Treated them well, Kenobi did. More resistant to the knowledge that gone traitor, Kenobi has, than that done the same Krell did, they will be."

The old master had a point. "Then we can take them as backup, and let the Wolfpack handle being the close quarters backup to the Jedi team that finds them."

"But will the Senate let us take the clones as backup?" Tiin murmured, still frowning. "You said the Supreme Chancellor himself wants us to stay out of this. And given Kenobi was a member of this Council before he exposed himself, they may be starting to be against letting us have any role in the military and Republic, not just this search."

It was a worrying prospect, though not a new idea. There had been rumblings, recently…The Jedi had been judged the best suited to take control of the clone army when the war first broke out, but that had been years ago, and the Grand Army of the Republic now had non Force sensitive admirals such as Tarkin, many of whom were opposed to working with the Jedi and wanted them phased out of the military. And Mace himself had said that they were keepers of the peace, not soldiers - yet these days it seemed like the place they could make the most difference, and do the most good, _was_ on the front lines, _was_ commanding the Grand Army of the Republic.

"They cannot judge us all by the actions of one person," he declared, and privately vowed to make sure that the media did not attempt to spin things that way, (unlikely though that possibility was. This was wartime, and the pests were bound to obey the commands of the Chancellor's office and the Senate War committee). "There are thousands of Jedi."

Only a few thousand, now, but still thousands.

"How will we make the teams?" Ki-Adi asked. Mace resisted the urge to rub his forehead, and instead attempted to decide what they could and couldn't do. He knew it was because he spent a lot of time on Coruscant, and handled the day to day running of the Jedi much of the time, but it got wearing to be the one people looked to to come up with all the answers. He'd taken it on so Yoda wouldn't have to overwork himself so much and done so willingly, but at moments like this, discussing how to take down someone he had only days ago counted as a good friend…

"There are not that many Jedi Master's available," he thought aloud. "Most of those that are are on the Council, and on Coruscant because of this crisis. We cannot afford to scour the entirety of Coruscant; we just don't have the resources. Neither do the GAR, which means we are left waiting until there is a report on their position. The teams will need at least two Jedi in each, one to battle Kenobi and one to battle Tano, as I sincerely doubt a fallen Jedi and suspected Sith will be willing to just come along quietly."

There were sage nods around the circle, and Mace resisted the urge to tell them that they could have thought of that themselves with just a little effort. "Preferably three," Plo added. "We still don't know how much Ventress is involved."

Mace looked around the circle. Himself. Yoda. Ki-Adi-Mundi. Saesee Tiin. Plo Koon. It was the most Council members that had actually been physically present for a meeting for quite some time, excepting the last few days. They might be able to pull Kit back out of his current engagement, but that was what they had. "We'll need at least two teams, in addition to whoever stays in the Temple to co-ordinate and defend it should they strike here. We don't have enough people to make teams of three."

Past events showed that Kenobi and Tano were willing to strike at the Temple, after all. He wouldn't have thought Kenobi capable of that, but then, he'd seen first-hand the effects the Dark side could have on a persons' mind.

Innocents had been killed in the bomb. There were innocents in the Temple, innocents that they _had_ to protect.

"Stay with the younglings, I will," Yoda said, knowing Mace well enough to know what he was thinking about without even needing to read his mind. Mace breathed out slowly.

"Good."

"Master Windu and Master Koon should be on separate teams," Saesee added. "You're the ones with the lightsaber skills to match Kenobi."

"I'll work with you," Plo volunteered to Saesee. Saesee nodded in acceptance.

"Which leaves myself and Master Mundi," Mace summarised. "Or Master Mundi and Master Fisto, once Kit arrives."

"Be ready as soon as located, they are, you should," Yoda warned.

Mace looked around the grim faces. "I'll authorise taking the Clones with us." He would take the blame for that should it come to the point where that was needed. "The Jedi are still ranking military officers. And this is too important to take chances."

* * *

Asajj led them to the secondary hideout she'd set up in the area - partly because it had more room, partly because she wasn't that trusting. Even if it was Kenobi. The two had clearly been exhausted: after setting times to switch watches they had gone straight to sleep, Tano curling up in a corner with the poncho as a pillow and Kenobi's robe as a blanket, Kenobi stripping off the bulk of his armour and slumping against a wall, his quiet snores the only sound other than the distant chatter of people going about their lives.

They'd let their guard down. Just let their guard down and gone to sleep, knowing that if she wanted, she could grab one of the lightsabers - just how many did they have with them anyway? - and murder both before they could react.

She was slightly astonished they trusted her that much.

Well, slightly astonished that Tano trusted her that much. Kenobi, she knew well enough, given after their escape from the brothers he'd mumbled a, "Would you mind dropping me near Republic space?" before putting himself into a healing trance and leaving her to handle the navigation. She could have killed him then, could have incapacitated him and handed him over to Dooku, and he wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it.

It had been partly necessity, she was sure. Had he not done so, he would have passed out soon enough. She'd scanned him - out of _curiosity_, not any concern for his wellbeing - once she was sure he was out of it enough that he wouldn't notice her. He'd been badly bruised, and had a developing concussion, but what had caught her attention was the state of his ribs: they seemed to have taken the brunt of her former servant and said former servant's brother's beating. All were bruised, most had hairline fractures, some were broken, and a couple had been pressed against his lung in a way that she knew from experience of her own was kriffing painful - and dangerous. They had been very close to puncturing it.

Her watch passed uneventfully. A third of the way through the night, and she realised that she had no idea how he would react to being woken up. Should she shake him and risk ending up with a lightsaber reflexively at her throat? Bang something? - no, that would wake Tano. Throw something at him?

"Kenobi!" she hissed, out of reach. She'd woken him from unconsciousness before, yes, but that had been unconsciousness, not sleep. And he hadn't had a lightsaber then. She'd had both, and now that position was reversed. "Kenobi!"

He groaned, blinking blearily at her from under the hood of the poncho as he pushed himself up onto an elbow. "Ventress?"

His bewildered tone was so close to the one he'd used on the brother's stolen ship, she could almost smell the blood. "Me," she murmured sardonically. "We teamed up, remember?"

"Hmm? Ah, right." He sat fully up, swiping the heel of a hand over each eye then running both hands over his face. "Watch."

"Yes Kenobi, your watch," she said, exercising great patience faced with his sleepiness. "Because there are police after us. And Jedi. And clones."

"Never would have remembered that if you hadn't told me," was the sleepy retort. She rolled her eyes. "And you forgot the bomber. And possibly the Separatists, since we're listing people who want us dead."

Dead? She'd seen the announcement like everyone else, but she'd assumed that it was the senate who had put the death sentence on his head. "The Jedi want you dead?"

She wasn't quite able to keep the scepticism out of her voice. He tossed a scowl at her as he began re-attaching the armour. "Yes, as a matter of fact. Their desire is based on a wrong assumption, but they want me dead." He paused, the muscles in his back tight. "Indeed, because of that wrong assumption, I imagine they want me dead more than the rest of your list put together."

Okay, what? Kenobi? "What did you _do?_"

He gave her another scowl at her impressed tone of voice. "I just broke Ahsoka out of prison. Nothing you didn't already know, I'm sure."

She knew _that_ part. But they wouldn't try to kill him for that. "What else?"

"_Nothing_ else," was his exasperated exclamation. "They just made some wrong assumptions based on the information they had, _as I said_."

"What assumption?" she demanded, because something that had caused the Jedi Council to start trying to kill one of their own - she did not want to go into this blind to something that important.

He tugged the armour to make sure it was secure, then came to sit beside her at the entrance. For a long moment she thought she'd pushed too far and he wasn't going to answer, but then he sighed, tension draining out of him.

She wished she knew how to do that. Oh, she knew how, long ago though the theory had been taught to her. What she didn't know was _how_. She certainly couldn't _do_ it.

"The remaining Jedi Council," he said slowly, "Is still convinced that Ahsoka was behind the bombing. And I suspect their reasoning goes along the lines of, he broke her out, so he must be an accomplice, must also have been involved in the bombing, and all that goes with that."

"So, they expelled you because they think you spontaneously decided to blow a few people up?" she asked, suspecting that that was not what had actually happened, and that the answer was in the "all that goes with that," phrase he'd added on at the end of that. Sure enough, after a moment he shook his head, staring out.

"No. Back before Ahsoka even fell under suspicion, the Council agreed that if a Jedi was involved in the bombing, they must have fallen to the Dark side to some extent." He saw her look. "They attacked the _Temple._ The Temple is…home. For almost all Jedi. The place where any Jedi can turn up, and just _be_, without pressure. A place to rest, and be at peace. And while there's other Temples, praxeums, the like, the Temple is where most of us grew up."

She could barely understand what he was talking about. Rattatak was not peaceful. Neither was Dathomir, or roaming the Galaxy, first as Tyranus' Acolyte and Apprentice, then as a Bounty Hunter. "So they think Tano's gone Dark. And they think you have too?"

His smile was humourless.

"I want to see their faces when they find out who it actually was," she decided, and pretended not to notice the thankfulness in his eyes because she had no idea how to respond to it. "Who's the suspects?"

Kenobi almost laughed, eyes sparkling brightly for a moment, before he gave her a quick run through of the events she had not been there for and they dimmed again. She listened with her own eyes narrowed. "Sounds like it's this Barriss character," was her announcement on him finishing.

"Quite frankly, I agree with you." He stifled a yawn, eyes watering. "Bu - but it's not the only option. She's the most probable suspect, but this person appears to have a habit of setting others up to take the fall for them. Like Ahsoka being blamed for the bomb. Like disguising herself as you to attack Ahsoka."

He had a point. "Not including yourself in that list Kenobi?"

Kenobi snorted slightly. "They had nothing to do with that. I managed to get into this mess all on my own merits, thank you."

"And yet you'd do it again." She didn't get it. Why would anyone risk themselves like that?

He just nodded. Rolling her eyes again, Ventress lay down, staring up at the ceiling. She drifted off to sleep not long after that.

**Next Chapter: A close encounter with the possibility of being discovered by the police.**


	15. Too Close For Comfort

Chapter 15: Too Close For Comfort

Ahsoka was several hours into her watch when she sensed a patrol headed their way. She shook Obi-Wan awake, then Ventress (avoiding the reflexive punch that caused), and they hurried out of the hideout, stepping lightly so as not to alert anyone that might be nearby that they were there. She and Ventress took the lead, the former Jedi Master hanging back slightly and guarding their backs as they hurried to a more populated area of the section.

Ventress clearly knew the area, and soon enough they were in a high street that was, if not bustling, then at least populated enough that they didn't stand out as the only inhabitants. Even if those inhabitants were mostly late night party goers, couples making out in side alleys or the occasional hurrying early riser either trying to ignore those couples as they scurried on by - or casting longing glances as they passed.

After a bit of searching, they managed to find an uninhabited side path squeezed in between two buildings. "There's a ledge up there that's good for hiding," Ventress noted as she glanced warily back the way they had come, then her nose wrinkled. "Though it's only big enough for one."

"Oh, well that's helpful," Ahsoka mumbled, ignoring the death glare she got in response in favour of listening with Force directed hearing for any signs of slightly synthesized voices, and a group of feet that hit the ground at too steady a rhythm for someone up at this hour. "They're still coming."

"I rather suspect they're herding us," Obi-Wan mused, leaning against the wall. Ventress transferred her death glare, fists clenching.

"There is no way they could know you're here!"

"I never said they did," he countered coolly. "I suspect it's a standard procedure option for sweeps, actually, if rather rare. Surround an area, move in without leaving gaps, and when you meet at the middle see if you've caught anything."

"That would take a lot of people," Ahsoka pointed out, only half listening to the conversation.

"Which would be why it would not be used often, except when they have an almost absurdly large presence in an area, as they do now."

There was a pause.

"Slip the net?" Ventress sneered, a grudging hint of apology in her voice.

He nodded. "It's our best option. We just have to figure out a way to get past them, or of letting them pass us, that doesn't cause them to recognise us."

"I thought you were confident in your disguises?" The apology was gone, a note of derision in its place. Obi-Wan gave a small sigh.

"Yes, when they're not expecting to see us. This is a sweep, they'll be checking everyone they go past, in theory. I'd rather not have my current look plastered across the boards, if it's all the same to you."

There was a snort. "It is, actually."

"You don't mean that." He sounded slightly amused. She could almost hear the hostile stare that earned him, closed though her eyes were to concentrate better.

"Er, they just turned into the street."

She opened her eyes to see Obi-Wan give Ventress a very serious look. "Is there a way out the other end of this passage?"

Ventress looked rather disgusted. "No. Any passage that has two ends will have someone going through it." Her lips thinned. "We could just blast our way out."

Ahsoka exchanged glances with Obi-Wan. "It's best not to reveal where we are, I think," she murmured after a pause.

"Not unless we have to," he agreed mildly. "Though how we're going to go unnoticed escapes me at the moment."

A roll of the eyes was all the reaction that got from Ventress. "However did I see _that_ coming?" she asked no one in particular, before her expression sharpened. "Tano, get up there."

Ahsoka figured this was not the time to argue, hearing the police close in. They didn't know the three of them were there, and she had no desire for another chase. With a Force enhanced jump, she scrambled up onto the ledge Ventress had described, grimacing as her hands, then knees, landed in the animal droppings lining the edge. It sloped down towards the back, and she could just squeeze in and out of sight of anyone on the ground. Hot air, smelling of garbage, blasted from a grill at one end. "Lovely place."

"Shut up," Ventress snapped. Ahsoka closed her eyes, using her sense of the Force and her passive echo-location to give herself a clear picture of them. Obi-Wan was still leaning against the wall, Ventress moving between him and the mouth of the ally.

"You do realise they're still going to notice me," he pointed out. "And you. Your tattoos are quite distinctive."

"Not from the back," Ventress was radiating a sly smugness from her smear of a Force signature. Wondering just what the ex Sith assassin had in mind, Ahsoka listened even more intently. "And as long as some of your features are," she coughed, "_obscured_, they won't recognise you, my dear."

Obi-Wan moved as if to cross his arms. "Just what are you-" Ventress yanked them apart, closing in on him.

"Think, my dear," she purred. "What activity do their eyes skim over when they look in alleyways?"

He twitched, and she attacked him. There was no other word for it. Draping herself over him with all the clinginess of the body glove that was part of the Clones' armour, she smashed her lips into his, silencing his startled splutter and pinning him in place with a hand either side of his head. Ahsoka tried desperately not to choke in shock, or giggle at the emotions she could feel coming off of Obi-Wan, the inside of her elbow covering her mouth. Startled indignation, and annoyance which faded into bemused resignation, all coloured by an overtone of, _what in the galaxy…mmm. No!…oh, for Force sake…_

The footsteps drew nearer, and she felt a presence look in - and the spark of mischievousness that came from Obi-Wan, as he brought his hands up to Ventress' back and pulled her in, winking over her shoulder at them. There was a disgusted mutter, and the presence moved away.

Ahsoka waited until she was sure there wasn't a second wave behind the first sweep, then jumped down. "If you two wanted some alone time, you could have just asked."

The effect of her dry tone was somewhat ruined by the snort of stifled laughter, but she watched Obi-Wan flush a bright pink anyway. It contrasted interestingly with the bruised lips. "_Not_ my idea…"

"Not the first part." Ventress sounded…grudgingly impressed. Shaking her head, Ahsoka peered mentally out into the street, ignoring the sniping going on behind her.

"In what galaxy did that seem like a good method of disguise-"

"It worked, didn't it?"

"That's _not the point-"_

"Like you had a better idea. And what was with the _winking-_"

"It worked, didn't it?"

There were the rear people checking the last few alleys. Ahsoka turned back to them before she overheard something that scarred her for life - given who this was and the looks in their eyes, she wouldn't put it past the pair of them - and interrupted. "All clear."

Obi-Wan looked like he couldn't get out of the narrow confines of the ally fast enough, and after a pause where Ahsoka raised a brow at the ex Sith and Ventress looked completely unrepentant, Ventress followed him. Shaking her head again, Ahsoka trailed behind as they ate up the distance away from the direction the police had gone in.

Sometime after they had left the entire sector, Obi-Wan finally slowed down. "Breakfast."

Ventress rolled her eyes, but stopped none the less. "Unless you have something with you-"

Ahsoka scanned the place - run down residential flats - and pointed to an empty stairwell. "There."

Ventress slouched over as the two recently exiled Jedi sat on the stairs. "I don't know if it escaped your notice Tano, but a stairwell is not edible."

Obi-wan pulled out three ration bars.

Ventress stared at them for a moment, before snatching one and plonking herself down on Ahsoka's other side. Accepting the bar offered to her, Ahsoka watched in amused disbelief as she tore the wrapper open, stuffed it in a pocket and munched the thing down in stoic silence. She spat on the ground once it was finished. "Just as disgusting as I remember."

"When have you ever eaten Republic rations anyway?" Ahsoka questioned as she stuffed her own wrapper in a pouch on her belts that she had designated for rubbish when in the field, before watching in amusement as Obi-Wan carefully folded his so that the slightly sticky inside of the wrapper was not exposed as he placed it alongside the uneaten bars, nestled between two so it wouldn't come unfolded.

"Sneaking through the lines then getting into position by stowing away on a supply ship." The words came after a considering pause. Ahsoka nodded in acknowledgment.

Obi-Wan handed a small water flask around - one of the two they had filled before leaving their temporary resting place yesterday. Noticing that the other one was hanging more heavily from his belt than it had after they had finished it, she supposed he must have filled them up at Ventress' bolt hole during his watch. "Okay. What about that base you mentioned?"

Ventress shifted. "I stumbled on a meeting." She shrugged, somehow managing to make the action look hostile. "Or a rally. A group calling themselves the Active Gathering Against the War: they were celebrating their `first strike`, being reassured that there would be another one, ranting about corruption in the Senate and the Jedi - that sort of thing."

"Did they say anything about their next strike?" Obi-Wan demanded, face tight as he leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

"Only that it would be against the Jedi."

Ahsoka grimaced. Her feelings on that were a muddle she didn't particularly care to untangle, but she knew that if that were to happen, she - and possibly Obi-Wan - would be getting the blame. "Again?"

"They didn't seem to like you lot all that much," Ventress drawled.

Ahsoka took a deep breath to loosen the knot that had suddenly formed in her gut, feeling the concealed flinch from Obi-wan beside her at the reminder. Ventress watched her - them - and snorted. "Whatever happened to `despite what you may hear, I'm still a Jedi`?"

She bit her lip, staring down and feeling the absence of her beads more than ever. Obi-Wan spoke. "The Jedi…" she heard him sigh. "Are as much an organisation with an extended support system, as much a - a _family_, as a set of beliefs." There was a pause. "Leave it, Ventress."

His voice was flat. Ventress watched him for a moment, then nodded.

They sat there in silence for several minutes, listening to beings beginning to stir in the housing around them. Obi-Wan clipped the canister back to his belt.

"I can show you the base," Ventress offered eventually. "They'll probably use it again."

"So we can find out who this Jedi is," Ahsoka realised, focusing on that. "And some information on the next attack."

"Or at least who would know." Obi-Wan took a deep breath and gave her a small, reassuring smile. "Sounds like a plan."

A plan. It was a relief to have one, after days spent on one high speed collision course after another, desperately attempting to avoid a crash. She turned to Ventress. "Lead the way."

**A.N. This is not a shipping fic. That said, feel free to interpret that any way you want. ;)**

**Next Chapter: Ventress' annoyance with herself for trusting a pair of (ex) Jedi catches up. Oh, and they find the base.**


	16. Team Spirit

Chapter 16: Team Spirit

They spent the next several hours manoeuvring through the levels with much more ease than they had on the way to find Ventress. Partly, Ahsoka felt, it was because they were just getting the hang of finding small, out of the way lifts that only connected two levels and places where the strain on the metal had ripped it and left gaps a person could get through, and now knew where to look for those and what didn't work, but she couldn't deny the usefulness of having someone who knew the place with them. She wondered how long Ventress had been living here.

Ahsoka was in the middle, Ventress leading, with Obi-Wan bringing up the rear as always as they wriggled through a small tear in the metal one after the other, Ahsoka being _very_ careful in getting her head and montrails through, then feeling snags tear the poncho and the skirt of her dress. Obi-wan followed her, managing to get through as far as his chest before jamming. Ahsoka stifled a laugh. He was wearing such a resigned _I knew this was going to happen_ expression that it was difficult, though, and a giggle escaped. The resignation turned to an expression more benefiting a hurt pittin which had just been left out in the cold for no reason, and she had to fight back another wave. Even Ventress, who had been in a foul mood since they'd eaten, looked slightly amused. "Having problems there, Kenobi?"

"Armour's ridged," he muttered, grunting as he attempted to twist around. There was a nasty screeching sound as the hole's edges and the armour did battle for which was least flexible, Obi-Wan wincing as he was squished a bit in the process, his body being more flexible than the metal or armour. "I can't squeeze through like you two did."

He twisted again, applying the Force to prevent himself from being squashed this time, and they heard the spike along the edge that had caught him give way with a shriek of protest. Ahsoka automatically looked with the Force, but there wasn't anyone nearby who seemed to care about the strange sound coming from below their feet or above their heads. "That's got-" He attempted to pull himself fully through, and jammed as he was halfway. Ahsoka did start to laugh then, feeling the _not again_ echo mutedly through the Force around him.

Obi-Wan huffed, then threaded an arm back through the side of the tear, fumbling for a moment before he pulled it through, holding his overloaded utility belt, and dumped the belt and all its contents in Ventress' outstretched hand. "Hold that." He passed his folded robe through then wriggled himself free, with a few new scratch marks on his armour and a put out expression as souvenirs. "Yes yes, very funny."

Holding her sides, Ahsoka just laughed some more, a corner of her brain that was more sensible suggesting that this was a slightly hysterical reaction caused by the last few days - stars, had it only been a few days? - and that she should really calm down. She took several deep, gulping breaths.

Ventress smirked nastily at him. "Very elegant." Her eyes flickered down to the utility belt, then disbelief crossed her face. "Just how many vaping lightsabers - forget it. You don't need this many." She snatched one off the belt before handing it back. Obi-Wan started to protest, but she cut his words off with a curt "I'll give it back when we get mine," as she was sliding it into place on her hip. Obi-Wan sighed, eyes narrowing.

"Couldn't you use one of the others?"

Ventress scowled viciously at him. "I want insurance that you won't leave me behind the first chance you get," she snapped.

His lips thinned. "We wouldn't have-"

"And now you definitely won't."

Obi-Wan looked mournfully at the lightsaber she'd taken for a moment. It was, a now completely unamused Ahsoka realised, the one he had carried since the war started, and for the whole time she had known him.

An oddly calculating expression flickered across Obi-Wan's face. "I see." There was a tense pause. "Is hostage taking really necessary?"

Ventress glared furiously at him, then turned and stalked ahead. Obi-Wan stared after her for a moment, frowning, then shook his head.

"I'm pretty certain she did that just to be obnoxious," Ahsoka offered, remembering Ventress do the same to her as they started after the ex Sith. The words earned her a vaguely amused side glance.

"Not because she's never been able to really trust anyone not to betray her, or because she wanted a weapon?"

She scowled at the ground in front of her. _Not really able to trust anyone…_.It hit a bit too close to home. A lifetime of that…she focused on the second part of what he'd said. "She _knows_ that's your one."

"Yes." His expression turned melancholy – and slightly exasperated, if she was reading it right. "But she said she would give it back upon reacquiring her own. I'll hold her to that."

Ahead of them, Ventress' stride faltered. Ahsoka scowled again, feeling there were layers to the situation she wasn't seeing, but unwilling to give up just yet. "It's not like you've ever taken one of hers." A half-grin flitted across his face at that, and she stopped. "Er, am I missing something?"

"It was an adventure of mine that ended rather badly," his grin turned sardonic. "It involved me being beaten up by Maul and Opress, and Ventress arriving to quite unintentionally save the day."

"_Badly_?" came the indignant call from ahead. "You ungrateful piece of bantha choozik-"

"And who was it that got us out of there in the end?"

They spent the rest of the way there animatedly contradicting each other on what had happened, eyes bright with irritation at each other - and, in the more relaxed moments, the challenge. Ahsoka listened in bewilderment, then bewildered amusement. It was an odd way to let off steam, maybe, but this was almost as much fun to watch as Anakin bickering with Master Ob - er, Anakin bickering with Obi-Wan. If decidedly weirder.

She squished the pang at the thought of normal days, at the Temple or on missions. _Focus on what's going on now. The past can come later._

"And that was when you started _losing_-"

"Because I used up the energy I had getting my lightsaber back so I could throw yours to you - and how could you even see? Red lightsabers are incredibly difficult to see by without any other source of light in comparison-"

"You had your precious _blue_ lightsaber back by then, remember?" The ex-Sith rolled her eyes animatedly. "And I could _hear_ you getting beaten up-"

"I'm amazed you had time to focus on that, given Opress was thrashing you - and _you_ don't have the excuse of being injured to start with-"

His acerbic reply was cut off by Ventress, who was all but bristling at the insult, "I've taken on both you _and_ Skywalker, does that count for nothing-"

Maybe it wasn't worth focusing on the present right now. Ahsoka attempted to picture Obi-Wan holding a red lightsaber, and failed about as badly as she had when attempting to picture him as a Padawan. It was slightly depressing, that. As if she didn't really know him at all. "Are we nearly there?"

Ventress finished her latest insult before answering. "One more section and a half."

"I'm amazed they held it so close to the warehouse and all the investigators there," Obi-Wan, despite being the instigator, was the first to seize on the slightly less personal topic. Ahsoka shrugged.

"These people were involved in the Temple bombing," she pointed out. "If there's one thing they _don't_ seem to lack, it's brazenness."

The reminder killed the competitive, lightening atmosphere, but for some reason - possibly sheer relief they'd stopped sniping at each other - she couldn't bring herself to feel guilty.

Ahsoka wriggled across on of the beams in the gap, mildly impressed by the ease of access she had by just going between the floors. The gap had possibly been filled with insulation at one point, she mused, remembering her history lessons (they seemed so long ago, now,) but the concentration of people and the city rising higher and higher above this place had meant that the main problem became air circulation and staying cool, so no one had bothered to replace it as it rotted away to dust.

The room below was occupied only by a small non portable comm unit. "All clear," she called back, before jumping down and looking around.

The room stank of aggression, and fearful hate. She swallowed painfully, focusing on the physical features. It was bare. There was a raised area at one end, loose plastic flooring of some kind covering crates to make for a small makeshift platform. The comm unit was tucked almost behind it.

Obi-Wan and then Ventress jumped down after her, Obi-Wan sneezing, wiping dust off his nose. "There was no need to shove me in like that."

"What's through there?" Ahsoka interrupted before Ventress could reply and they started going at each other again. For someone who had wanted to team up with Ventress, Obi-Wan sure wasn't working all that well with her.

Or maybe he was. They were here. He'd defused the situation about Ventress taking his lightsaber, though he was clearly not happy about it. He'd provided an opportunity for her to vent some of her negative feelings against the pair of them without violence. And he and Anakin insulted each other all the time, although in a more friendly manner than Obi-Wan and Ventress had just been going at each other. Was it something about being comfortable enough with someone to insult them without it escalating to violence?

Ventress glowered at the door. "That was not there before."

Ahsoka looked at the marks on the door where something had clearly been attached, and frowned. "That looks like the shape of a holo generator. One of the GAR's armoured ones."

"And the new, state of the art ones have ray shields," Obi-Wan grimly completed. "More than nano droids have been going missing, then." He put a hand on the door, cautiously sensing for alarms. A frown crossed his face. "Nothing. This place is curiously unguarded."

Ahsoka agreed, and by the deeper than usual scowl on her face, Ventress did too. This was obviously a semi-permanent place, yet there had been nothing but standard home low security, easily bypassed.

Looking at the shape of the absent holo generator as Obi-Wan unlocked the door with a twist of the Force and pushed it slowly open, Obi-Wan's words about it being amazingly close to the investigation echoed ominously in her mind. She swallowed.

There were shelves in the small, cupboard like room behind the door, mostly empty, but the dust shapes on the bare shelves showed that that was recent.

Ahsoka felt herself slump as the grim reality set in. "They're moving."

"Aren't you supposed to be semi intelligent?" Ventress snapped. "That's _obvious_ from this."

"They'll be coming back for this stuff." Obi-Wan gestured to what was left.

Ventress looked at him. "Is there some sort of requirement that Jedi have to state the blindingly obvious all the time? Because I don't remember one."

"The obvious is often overlooked," Obi-Wan remarked with what seemed to Ahsoka remarkable serenity. She was resisting the urge to blast Ventress across the room with a Force push. Not that it would _work_, Ventress would dodge or counter somehow, but it was the thought that counted, right? "We can check what these contain."

Ahsoka pulled a datapad off the shelf, then frowned at it. "The capacity in this is rubbish."

"Standard with groups that have secrets," Ventress grunted, switching one on. "Membership list on this one, if you're wondering. Or maybe just recruits, they don't seem quite idiotic enough to leave their own details unguarded…Even if a datapad gets lost, it can't give too much away, and the low capacity means that there aren't "echoes" of information that slicers can reassemble." She looked somewhat disgusted. "It would have taken less space to write this out on flimsi."

"Mm." Obi-Wan picked up a few, scanning through them one after another. "So they are mindful about security. Did they rip it out so the various investigators wouldn't detect it once they started swarming the area?"

"Probably."

Hence the move. They split up, each taking a section of the occupied shelf - the rest of the shelves covering the three walls of the small room were already emptied - and starting to skim through datapads. Ahsoka wrinkled her nose, seeing that she was going through more membership/recruit lists. Great. While potential evidence, and she sharpened her memory of each name on the list with the Force accordingly, it was tedious and not likely to turn anything up.

"Anything?" she asked half hopefully, half hopelessly as Obi-Wan slowed his reading, suddenly narrowing his eyes and looking over something carefully.

"I'm not sure." He passed it over. "It looks like it's been misplaced, it says the meeting place, doesn't say the year in the date - but it looks likely. There's no such thing as a coincidence, and for them to be here at this time of year…"

"That's tomorrow," Ventress muttered.

"Now who's stating the obvious?" Ahsoka shot at her before Obi-Wan could say something similar, a shiver of energy running up her spine. "But it's a perfect opportunity. The leader of these groups will know who the Jedi helping them is. If we can just question them…"

"We find out who it is. And probably when they are planning to strike, for that matter." Looking at it one more time, eyes glinting intently as he fixed it in his memory, Obi-Wan placed it back. "Let's see if there's any more misplaced documents, shall we?"

There weren't, or at least they found none as they worked through the names in a rush that felt agonisingly slow, all of them checking periodically for anyone approaching the hideout.

Ventress was the first to notice them, stiffening as she picked up one of the last datapads. "We need to get out."

Hurriedly, carefully, they placed the datapads back, making sure they were in the right places and didn't look touched before Ahsoka climbed back into the ceiling and started to crawl out. It wasn't necessary to look to sense them now: there was a group of people approaching fast.

Instead of crawling out, she maneuvered to the next beam over so the others could get in. "Quick."

Ventress pulled herself up, and then over so the way was clear. Obi-Wan had barely come through when they heard a lock opening, and they froze in place as he kicked the ceiling tile back into place, not wanting to make a sound.

There were muffled voices below. Conversation, a man's voice rising harsh and clear over the rest as it barked out orders in rodian.

"That's him," Ventress breathed, so quietly that Ahsoka could barely hear her and she felt the Force bringing it to Obi-Wan's ears. "The one who gave the speech."

More of a rant, if Ventress' description of it earlier was anything to go by. Ahsoka shifted uncomfortably, then froze at the squeak the metal made. Below, the voices faltered for a moment.

Ahsoka breathed as shallowly as possible, waiting as the seconds stretched into minutes, and minutes stretched into hours, when it had only been a few minutes, surely, so there was no reason for her muscles to be starting to cramp other than how very still she was holding herself. _Breathe. In, out. No other movement._

It felt like days had passed when Obi-Wan whispered that they were gone and broke her almost-trance, and she followed him down into the room again. She stumbled and sat down abruptly, circulation returning in painful tingles to limbs that had had no relief because she hadn't shifted. "How long was that?"

"A third to half a standard hour," Obi-Wan replied as he opened the door to the small side room and peered inside. Ventress watched her with a disdainful sneer.

"You've not a glimmer of espionage training, have you Tano." The quiet words were not a question.

"So?" she returned belligerently, though the effect was somewhat spoiled by the fact that she couldn't stand and was rubbing her muscles to help the return of circulation.

Ventress smiled thinly. "No reason."

Obi-Wan returned. "They've moved everything."

Ventress' expression immediately returned to being sour. "Nothing?"

"Nothing. Well, unless you count the shelves." He shrugged. "At least we got a lead."

A lead. Ahsoka nodded, latching onto the words and attempting optimism. Okay. It…wasn't what they had hoped for - but it wasn't a dead end, either.

"A possible lead," Ventress shot the words at her, apparently irritated by her agreement. Obi-Wan placed his hand on her shoulder, and she felt the Force easing the tingling/stabbing sensation, draining it away through him, to it.

"Thanks" she muttered, standing up. _Should have thought of that…_

"No need. I should have realised you wouldn't know." He shrugged apologetically. "It's not considered priority now, to teach how to be absolutely still for a protracted time and still be ready for a fight."

"Teach me it and you're forgiven," she mumbled, his quick half smile and dip of the head letting her know he'd heard. "Let's get out of here."

"No arguments here," Ventress muttered peevishly - and Ahsoka had the strangest urge to laugh.

**Next Chapter: Barriss finally shows up, and gets a comm call.**


	17. Ice

Chapter 17: Ice

Barriss Offee made sure the door to her small, bare room, the kind traditionally assigned to Knights who were never at the Temple anyway, was securely closed before she pulled the lightsabers out from behind the pot.

It was a stupid hiding place, really. But it had worked so far - granted, no one had come to her room since she'd acquired them - and she really didn't have anywhere else to put them. She'd asked for the smallest type of room, equipped with only a sleep pallet. There were a few personal mementos from her time as an apprentice that she'd brought with her filling the space, but otherwise it was the same as when she'd moved in.

Her fingers stilled on the edge of the pot, the handle of the curved lightsaber snug in her palm. She'd wanted the reminder. The reminder of when the Force had been clear, and the Jedi had stood for what was right.

Or had they been falling even back then? She knelt in her usual meditation spot, in front of the statue. Master Luminara had given that to her. She'd cared for her master, certainly. Not wanted to let her go. Attachment, the poisonous snake that had wound its way into their midst and bitten down.

Staring at the lightsabers in her hands, she wasn't sure she wanted to know. Wasn't sure she wanted to know for just how long the Jedi Order had been falling from the light of the Force, to the point that they would perpetuate war and fight on one side rather than bring both into agreement.

Yes, Count Dooku had fallen. Was a Darksider. Sith. But the Order as a whole were really no different, nor most in it.

She thumbed one of them on, almost startling at the snap-hiss, staring at the red blade. So similar to the blue, yet so different in meaning. Wasn't it? There had used to be a difference…Blue didn't suit her now. She'd fought in the war too. It didn't suit any of the Order, and if she could have, she would have switched all the lightsaber crystals the Jedi Order used to red ones.

Raising her hand, the one holding the lit lightsaber, to in front of her eyes, she considered it. Felt the resonance of the crystal through her hand on the metal. It didn't really feel as murderous as she'd expected. There were ominous echoes of Darkness, but it just felt…grey. Chilled. Numb.

Or maybe that was just her projecting her feelings onto it.

She could feel the heat coming from the blade on her face. She closed her eyes, revelling in it.

Almost of its own accord, her hand drifted closer to her face, until she felt the skin start to burn and froze, shocked. Carefully, she brought the blade away again, thumbing it off and laying them carefully on the floor at her side before bringing her hand up.

It wasn't a particularly bad burn. But it was on her face, and it would attract attention if she didn't heal it, so she settled into a brief meditation.

When she opened her eyes again, sometime later, there was no outward sign she had ever been hurt.

Noticing she'd left the lightsabers lying out, she lifted her hand to wave them back into their hiding place, then hesitated, as she had every time she brought them out, the same thought creeping into her mind. She could do it…The Council would find her whenever they noticed she was missing from their war machine, the red lightsabers at her side proof that they had missed something very, very important.

_There is no death, there is the Force._

She hadn't felt the warmth of the Force, the lightof the Force, in so long. The chill of Darkness that had settled over the Jedi, _into_ the Jedi, had stopped that from being possible.

The other Jedi hadn't even seemed to _notice_.

_No_. She waved them back into their hiding place once more. Fallen she may be, but she would fall more if she failed to get the Council's attention, failed to force them to see what they had become, failed to get them to recognise how far they'd fallen. And considering all the wrong conclusions they'd been jumping to lately, they might not get it.

At least Ahsoka was out of the way, and had seen the Order for what it was. Framing her had killed two birds with one stone - she almost smiled at the morbid metaphor - finding someone to take the blame, and getting her best friend out of the Order. Attachment, perhaps, but Ahsoka had been on the cleaner fronts, where the enemies were mostly the droid army, the Council not wanting to let the volatile so-called _chosen one_ near the greys of the war. She'd seen him off, offering condolences that were more heartfelt than he would likely ever know.

Anakin Skywalker saw the galaxy simply, in black and white. She almost envied him for it, except she had seen what the simplistic view of `Republic good, Separatists bad`, could do.

At least she could see.

She could see the Jedi, at least. She'd underestimated the Military hatred for the Jedi. Or maybe it was Tarkin's hate for Ahsoka she'd underestimated: as soon as he said he was going to push for death…there had been something _personal_ to it. She'd rushed to the Archives, hacked her way into the mission reports, desperately looking for what went wrong, this wasn't supposed to happen, Ahsoka was supposed to go to prison somewhere, safely away from the Jedi, away from this failing Republic that was going to implode on itself. Her friend was resourceful, once the all the fuss over her trial had calmed she'd have been able to escape, and disappear…and then she'd found with horror that they had a history, Tarkin hated her, and this was real, this was happening, and all her efforts to save her best friend were for naught.

She gone back to her quarters as the trial concluded, slowly, feet dragging as the familiar numbness of failure, of knowing that whatever she did, it would not be enough, settled in, bone deep. She'd become used to it, the last few months. There were less Jedi, more need for Generals, so she'd been pressed in as one instead of serving as a Healer.

And she'd spent the night awake, just sitting there staring at a wall, letting the clock tick down to zero.

Maybe this was what the Force wanted. To save a servant of the light by bringing her home. Even Ahsoka had been slipping: Barriss had been witness to her views on Letta. Maybe that was why it had worked out like this. Maybe - Maybe this was the best option.

She'd meditated then, focusing on Ahsoka's far away Force signature. She wouldn't have been able to do this before the Darkness crept in. But it hurt her, feeling her friend so confused and hurt in the Force, dim though it was with distance and…was that sleep? Could Ahsoka sleep the last hours of her life away? She supposed Ahsoka had looked tired in the warehouse, and her reaction times had been just that little bit worse than normal, but even so…so she could do it. Because it hurt. The Darkness liked pain, after all. Why would it deny her something that would hurt her?

And then another signature had appeared in proximity, one she'd missed until the person it belonged to was occupied with something and not focusing quite so much on concealing themselves and she had started to seethe, going from numb to furious upon recognising it as belonging to Kenobi. A _Council member_. And Ahsoka had moved, and brightened, and there was death and panic in the Force where they were, where she was focusing on, and why was Kenobi _doing_ this? What twisted scheme did the Council want Ahsoka for? She'd gone to all that trouble to make sure it was Ahsoka that took the fall and ended safely away from the Jedi Order, and then one of the blasted Council broke her out for no discernible reason! Why would they do that? She'd been in the process of accepting that Ahsoka might be safer in the Force, out of this Dark galaxy as opposed to just out of this Dark Order, and he'd gone and undone every last bit of her hard work!

It had been the will of the Force that led Ahsoka to her execution. Barriss was sure of it, after hours of pondering. It had to be. She couldn't have – it wouldn't have arranged things so someone who hated Ahsoka was prosecuting and someone who's skills as a lawyer were lacking was defending her if it hadn't. She couldn't hear the Force, but that didn't mean that she couldn't interpret what it wanted.

Then, hours later, the announcement had been made, and shock had rippled through the Jedi Temple, and she'd realised that he_ hadn't _been acting on behalf of the Council.

He_ was_ acting against the will of the Force, stopping Ahsoka from being saved…and yet….maybe, just maybe, there was someone else who understood that_ this _was wrong.

_This_ was the war. The Republic which wasn't a Republic any more. The Jedi Order which was closer to being Sith than Jedi. And her, fallen, attached to her friend and her master and these two red lightsabers that were the wrong colour for a Jedi, but the right colour for the Order as it was now.

It didn't change the fact that she was furious with him, but…

She hadn't felt quite so alone after that.

She'd shut herself away, these past few days. Anyone who cared to notice thought she was grieving for her friend - attachment being _sanctioned!_ - not that she'd been pondering the meaning of life and the ethics of clone slaves and the fall of the Jedi and Republic and all those things that the Order should have been focusing on but wasn't.

A comm beeped. Not breaking her stillness, Barriss held it telekinetically to her ear. "Eveliina."

"Barriss," came the curt voice at the other end. "Did you really need to use _that_ warehouse? That chapter has had to move their base."

"Yes."

She could almost hear Eveliina's face cranking into a scowl. Barriss was an ally, not a subordinate. Eveliina may be the person who had united the anti-Jedi groups brewing on Coruscant, and got them organized, but she couldn't order Barriss around. And they both knew it. "Fine, but be more careful this time. I've had some of those explosives you re-routed moved to the base nearest the Temple. Now, they're in quite a stir about the civilians who died - I know you had objections before, but what do you say to attacking _only_ the Jedi this time?"

Target the army of Darkness that the Jedi had become, and sent their members into the Force, the way it had wanted Ahsoka to re-join it?

"Good."

There was a surprised pause, but she didn't feel like explaining herself. Eveliina could take that however she wanted.

When Eveliina next spoke, Barriss could hear the smirk in her voice. "Target them, then, as many casualties as you can. Same time of day as the first, for the irony."

The Force would forgive them, or it would damn them to the Sith hells. Either way, they would not poison this wretched galaxy any longer. "I will."

"Good." The connection cut.

Barriss let the comm clatter to the floor, no longer expanding the effort to hold it up. A moment later, she wished she hadn't. The small clatter nearly broke the thin ice she was holding between herself and insanity, made her want to crumple and weep tears the horrors of war had taken her ability to shed.

She stared at it for a long time, trembling ever so slightly.

When she finally forced herself to move, drawing savagely on the Force to still herself, and picked it up, her hand was perfectly steady.

**A.N. Once again, a huge thank you to all my reviewers. I can only hope this chapter hasn't scared you all off. :D**

**Next Chapter: Things go a bit wrong for Ahsoka, Obi-Wan and Ventress in the underworld.**


	18. Discovered

Chapter 18: Discovered

They'd wandered the streets a bit, looking for somewhere near enough that they could reach the nearby meeting place scheduled for tomorrow fairly quickly, but far enough away that they were outside the "area of interest" and not constantly dodging police. It had resulted in a fair bit of bickering, some of which was, Obi-Wan would admit to himself, his fault (about a third of it: that was what happened when you put several people who could be impossibly stubborn together,) but he was fairly certain that their current predicament was not the result of his snarking match with Ventress, but of the burst water pipe.

He was rather inclined to place responsibility for _that_ on the Force.

The water pipe had been running along the wall, head height, as they walked inconspicuously along a busy street, spaced out so the beings around would not see them as a group and get suspicious. Ahsoka had just been turning the corner when the pipe burst, the jet of high pressure water knocking her off her feet even as it blasted the face paint into running streaks, and her poncho had not covered one of her lightsabers as she fell on her side, stunned, and then someone had screamed and it had all gone downhill from there.

He had to wonder if everyone was still receiving the Force's mysterious blackout on this issue, or if it had relented for someone and was just tormenting them - but no. If the Force had chosen not to give them answers, chosen not to warn any of the three of them of the pipe's impending blowing of their cover, then it had a reason.

It was just rather hard to not wonder what in the Galaxy that reason _was_ when he was fending off blaster bolts with a yellow lightsaber, Ahsoka Tano covering his back while Asajj Ventress took out police from behind them with a blaster she'd picked up from one of the people they'd downed. One of the few from the first wave that hadn't had their blasters turned into scrap metal.

He felt slightly insulted, actually. Why had Ventress taken his lightsaber - his _lightsaber_ - if she wasn't even going to use it?

At least she'd changed the setting to stun, though he half suspected that stemmed more from worries about how he and Ahsoka would react than worries about killing the police. The bolts coming at them were, after all, lethal.

Actually, he probably wouldn't have objected all that much. The realisation was worrying, but that could wait until later. When he didn't need to focus on covering their retreat.

"Please tell me we're nearly there."

Ahsoka - her face still streaked with white paint - gave him an incredulous look. Yes, he was calm. Yes, he sounded calm. Why was that so surprising? True, he'd never been in a fight with Coruscanti police before…

Later. He would deal with the moral dilemma later, when there were no blaster bolts flying everywhere.

"Nearly," The teen half yelled back. Stun rings flew, and more police fell. As did a few not hit by stun blasts, but reflected full power bolts.

_Breathe. Breathe out the guilt, breathe in strength and peace._

They were just doing their job. So was he, in a slightly unorthodox manner. Jedi Guardian. The Council could strip him of the title, but they couldn't strip his beliefs from him.

They reached the gap, train tracks running below. The police realised what they were about to do seconds before it happened, if the shouts were anything to go by, but were helpless to stop them as they vaulted (in his case - no need for theatrics) slid between the bars of (in Ventress' case) or flipped (Ahsoka) the railing, just as a train rushed past.

He landed on the roof in a crouch, light footed, anchoring himself with the Force immediately. He turned his head, saw Ventress two carriages down.

Ahsoka. Where was Ahsoka? He knew the answer even as he thought it, walking along the carriage roof carefully to the join between the two, feeling the wind try to pull him backwards.

"Chizk bantha poodoo join, I'll karking show it-"

"Are you okay?" he asked in slight amusement, her litany of curses going a long way to reassuring him that she was not, at least, badly hurt. Out of sheer habit, he followed it up a moment later with a mild, "language." A single hand precariously anchored with the Force to the side of the ledge at the end of the train car, Ahsoka glared up at him.

"A little help, here?"

He slid down and grabbed her wrist, one hand gripping edge of the sunken section containing a door. He could sense the consternation inside the cars to either side, hear the shouts and worried whispers, but a twist of the Force locked both doors and crushed their mechanisms (adding vandalism of public property to a list somewhere, no doubt) ensuring he would not be disturbed without notice. It was rather hard to not notice someone breaking down a metal door, after all. He pulled her up onto the tiny platform with him, then gave her a boost up to the roof, jumping up after her.

"Nice timing," Ventress said, standing with her arms folded. Ahsoka scowled even more fiercely.

Obi-Wan looked her over, checking for injuries. She appeared to be holding her left arm gingerly, but otherwise looked fine. Except…

Shaking his head and raising an eyebrow, but not voicing the thought running through his mind - _she's as bad as Anakin, for Force sake -_ he unclipped the second lightsaber and shoto pair on his belt and handed it to her.

Ahsoka clipped it to her belt and mumbled a thanks in his general direction.

Ventress pointed to a rapidly approaching platform. The train was showing no sign of slowing as it approached. "There!"

They jumped. Obi-Wan rolled forward over his shoulder as he landed, coming to a stop on one knee. He hastily pushed himself to his feet. "We need to get moving."

A few meters away, Ahsoka rolled to a stop, sideways. Obi-Wan didn't miss the way she had her left arm tight to her chest, her right crossing over and making sure her shoulder hadn't taken any of the impact. "And patch you up," he added, as she clambered to her feet, wincing.

Ventress rolled her eyes, muttering something about "Jedi" and "obvious".

He didn't miss the fearful looks the other people on the platform were giving them. His heart ached, even as he was glad that there were only a few of them. Not enough to form a mob, which would be careless of superior fighting abilities. At least they hadn't bowled anyone over in their landing. That wouldn't have made a good impression, though the current one they had to be leaving wouldn't be that great either. Ahsoka had flung off her soaked poncho when they'd been exposed, and was easily identifiable, by the lightsabers openly displayed if nothing else. Ventress was not the most inconspicuous person (and she had a lightsaber too), and he would be identified by virtue of being with them, should his face not be recognised.

They'd managed to travel outside the heavily police occupied area, judging by the lack of green armoured squadrons rushing up to shoot at them. That wouldn't last long, though. They did need to get moving.

By some unspoken agreement, he and Ventress kept Ahsoka safely between them as they hastened off the station platform. "Lift?"

Ventress nodded tersely. "They won't know where we've gone."

People scrambled out of their way as they headed for the lift, fear polluting the air. Obi-Wan felt his stomach turn. Being recognised and pointed at with near awe had been bad enough. He'd never wanted to inspire fear.

He was glad when they reached the lifts. They had one to themselves, the family that had been waiting having scurried away at the sight of them, the parents placing themselves between their children and the fugitives, shooting him looks that were, while frightened, full of furious betrayal.

He pulled off his poncho, once they were moving. No use as a disguise now. The armour felt constricting; he wanted to yell that he wasn't what they thought, wanted to scream with all the frustration and hurt that came from the knowledge that the Council, his colleagues and friends, had done this. That he understood their reasons only made it worse in that moment as he remembered the betrayal in those people's eyes, their fear, the sight of innocent police collapsing, possibly never to get up again.

He breathed out, folding the poncho up. "How bad is it?"

Ahsoka moved the arm gingerly and winced, breath hissing from between her teeth. "It's sprained. I was focusing too much on catching the side…"

And she hadn't focused on strengthening the joints. "Better than not catching it," he pointed out, and showed her the folded triangle of material. She nodded permission, and he tied the makeshift sling in place, avoiding touching her lekku as much as he could while passing the material under them, noting with concern that the stripes on them paled whenever she moved her shoulder. "I'll have a go at healing it later, but it would still be best if you didn't use it for a while." Time was the best healer. The Temple's healers could perform near miracles - but recovery still took time, and the healed wound would be more vulnerable to getting damaged again for that time.

"You know how to heal?" Ventress sounded surprised, if subdued. They exited on a deserted platform, Ventress pressing every single button on the wall in random order before they got out.

"I've picked up a few things over the years." He looked around. "Will they know we got off here?"

Ventress shook her head. "There's a whole series of industrial exits over here. Most of the floors there were buttons for aren't used unless it's commuting time, there's large network of lifts, and I just prevented them from recovering the electronic memory from that lift of where it's gone - I've looked at them before, they don't hold more than the last few destinations - they won't know where we went."

"You know this place pretty well," Ahsoka noted. The former assassin shrugged.

"I make it a habit to know ways of getting out of chases. These areas are large enough that there are multiple places with lifts that have the potential to do the same thing as we just did."

Industrial area. Good, that should be easy enough to find a hiding place in.

They disappeared amongst the blocky buildings.

**Next Chapter: The hunt begins.**


	19. Waiting

Chapter 19: Waiting

They spent the first few hours of that evening in an area that was marked with "out of bounds", "danger of electricity", and various other warning signs. Obi-Wan healed Ahsoka's shoulder the best he could, first pulling out the small medkit he had packed and giving her a painkiller that had anti-inflammatory agents, then he reached with the Force and encouraged the response to that, stopping the swelling from going any further, calming down the lymph nodes that were pushing cushioning fluid into the area and causing that swelling. He didn't want to do more with the Force in case he damaged something inadvertently, and had instead helped her into a healing trance after securing a cold pack around the damaged shoulder and asking slightly pointedly how the bruising from the warehouse fight and the holding facility was doing.

She looked a bit sheepish at that. With the poncho gone, it was clear she had some lovely splotches of bruising on her back and arms, and probably elsewhere: she hadn't bothered to do anything about it at all. He'd given her an exasperated look when she admitted that, but aloud he only noted that the healing trance would do those some good as well.

Ventress, who had watched him through the Force with interest as he treated his grand Padawan, was getting a quick nap in, after threatening him with a slow and painful death if he didn't wake her up the moment he sensed something. They all knew that their pursuit would step up now it was known roughly where they were. Clones, definitely. Probably Jedi. The Council did believe they were hunting a Sith and a fallen Jedi, after all. And they'd know Ventress was with them after that run in with the police.

The armour made a soft clunking noise when it hit itself as he drew his knees up to his chest. _There wasn't a choice._

The logic didn't particularly help. He turned his attention to monitoring their surroundings.

He'd been meditating lightly, spreading his awareness so he would know if he sensed either group, for only an hour and a half before he woke Ventress. Jedi, all right. Council members. He recognized the signatures as they drew close enough to sense, before they abruptly shielded themselves, one pair then the other.

_Do they honestly believe I'm that dangerous?_ He banished the small, hurt voice that said that to the back of his mind. The answer was apparently _yes, they do think that_, and he had bigger things to worry about, like his grand Padawan who had been hurt so badly by this whole…he couldn't think of a suitable word for it in that moment. Issue? Misunderstanding? Travesty? Whatever it should be called, it had hurt her deeply, which shouldn't have happened. She was _innocent_. And even when they found the real bomber, Obi-Wan was going to insist on a fair trial this time, rather than hoping someone else would come in and fix things. Even if that someone was Anakin. _Especially_ if that person was Anakin, because Anakin had too much to carry already. Hoping others would fix things was what got them into this mess: the Council handed Ahsoka over to please the Senate, so they would fix what the Council thought of as their mistake. He should have done more. He'd hoped he would be able to do more good on a grander scale if he stayed on the Council and didn't `do anything drastic`, as he himself would have described it to Anakin, but he wasn't able to. So he did something drastic, and it had shaken the Council so much they'd jumped to conclusions that involved the Sith and were hunting him down personally.

And he worried about Ventress, because for all her insistence that this was about her lightsabers, and that was the only reason she was helping, he knew she was lying. To them, and possibly herself. He didn't know all the details, but he knew that she'd been terribly hurt in the past, and yet she cared, for all her pretence that she didn't. That gave him hope even as he worried for her, because if someone who had been as damaged by the Dark and the life she had led as she had could still care and take those first few tentative steps towards healing, then there was still hope.

Unorthodox, was how he described his actions to himself in his thoughts earlier. And it was true. So unorthodox that even Qui-Gon Jinn might have been horrified, but…his Master was dead, and he had a responsibility to the living. It was odd, really: Qui-Gon was the one who was regarded as having a maverick streak, and he was the one who was seen as the rule bound, Council abiding counterbalance to that - and yet, Qui-Gon would never have done this, and he…he _was_. Breaking all the rules, and not even because the Force told him to, as Qui-Gon frequently excused his own actions whenever they brought him into conflict with the Council, because the Force had been silent. He did it because he felt it was right. Because what was happening was wrong, and he was the only one who both would and could do something about it.

Ventress sprang to alertness the moment he nudged her shoulder, only sleeping lightly. "What did you sense?" No back and forth banter until she knew what the threat was.

"Four Council members, backed up by Clones," was his grim reply.

Only the slight widening of her eyes gave her away, but it was enough. She was good, and he knew she'd taken on Council members before (he had been a Council member, after all, and counted as one of those she had fought,) but four? If he was honest with himself, he was nervous too, but he couldn't let that show, because out of the three of them he was the one with the most knowledge of their current opponents, and the best defensive lightsaber duellist.

"How close?" She scanned the area automatically, probably not even conscious that she was doing so, as if she expected them to pop around the corner any moment.

"Within a few levels." They were concealing themselves, yes, but that still left a…hole, was the best word he could think to describe it. It was only noticeable if you scrutinized the Force of the area very carefully, or knew where to look, and there were ways around it - he'd used some in the past, and he couldn't sense Saesee at all, now - but he knew they were in teams, there was four of them (unless they brought another master who could shield themselves as well as Saesee who was shielding all the way down, and didn't conceal themselves until the last minute as a ruse, rather than because they knew he would know they were coming, and so didn't bother to expand the effort). They would either take them four on three (practical for what they assumed they were dealing with) or they would split into two teams, (practical, because they would have a far better chance of catching them as two teams rather than one big group). Then there was the Clones to factor in. Any of the three of them could manage Clone troopers if they watched out, but they would be slowed down considerably should they run into some, and the Council members would know that. "We have time, if not a lot of it."

He wanted to let Ahsoka stay in her trance, because she needed both the healing and the rest it provided, but he'd assured her that he wouldn't just take over. And even if he hadn't, she deserved a part in the decision making process.

She surfaced slowly, stretching and then wincing as she remembered why her arm was in a sling. Her eyes were groggy. "What time…?"

"You only got an hour and a half, I'm afraid," he said gently. "We need to plan what to do next."

"Oh." She sat up, shrugging off his Jedi-robe-turned-blanket, then looking at it as if she was wondering how to fold it up without both hands. He took it from her quickly as he felt her gathering the Force to her.

"No. Don't use the Force. They'll sense it."

She froze. "And just who are `they`?"

"It appears," Ventress drawled before he could give a sufficiently short and non-sarcastic answer, "That Kenobi's involvement has frightened the Jedi a bit." She smirked, covering the disquiet she'd displayed only moments before. "Four members of the Jedi Council."

Ahsoka's head tails went an odd, greyish colour, the stripes paling. He winced inwardly. It _was_ his involvement that had caused this, he knew that. Mace, Saesee, Ki-Adi and Plo were not people to be taken lightly either. He just hoped they hadn't brought Yoda with them. They wouldn't, would they? Someone had to stay at the Temple, and they'd sent Kit out to the front lines the night Ahsoka had been sentenced. Or they could have brought him back, but the situation they'd sent him to had been going critical.

Except a Sith on the loose would be considered more important than one battlefront out of thousands, he realised with a sinking feeling. But would Kit have been able to get back that fast? He'd taken a fighter and hyperdrive ring, and while hyperspace prevented communication, Obi-Wan remembered that the route he'd planned involved lots of jumps, which would have allowed him to learn what had happened on Coruscant and be available for Council meetings on quite short notice. Getting into hyperspace took a lot of fuel though, and the hyper-ring a limited capacity, so he would have had to keep on course if the possible decision to bring him back happened much past the halfway point. And even if he'd turned around as soon as he got there, he - well, it was slightly under two standard days' trip, so he'd be on his way back, but they had half-day. Hopefully.

At least the other Council masters were so far out that they were not an immediate problem, and knowing the Council, they wouldn't have been summoned back in the hopes that it would all be over by the time they would have arrived, anyway. But they'd evaded capture for nearly two days now, and while they'd also evaded detection until now, the Council might start thinking about getting in reinforcements. It would reassure the public, show the senate how seriously the Council was taking the `threat` and sooth their own nerves.

There was nothing he could do about that, though. He was not planning on handing himself over, and he rather suspected the others felt the same way. So it was a matter of evading the Council members while still crashing that meeting a day away. (_If it happened,_ a voice in the back of his mind whispered. He firmly crushed it. Worry about _that_ if that happened. Not now.)

And those Council members would undoubtedly be using the Force to look. "Ahsoka," he said, "How much do you know about hiding your Force presence?" She was, at least he hoped, advanced enough to learn it.

She shrugged with her good shoulder. "Not much."

He nodded to her, securing the folded Jedi robe under his utility belt. "We should get moving, but I'll teach you as we go." A thought occurred to him, and he looked over at Ventress. "Feel free to chime in with suggestions. I imagine you have a bit of practice, after all."

Ventress just rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

**A.N. I'm about two-thirds of the way through this story, for anyone who's wondering, and I have a tentative sequel in the works – though whether I edit and post that or not depends on whether the first draft inspires me the way the first draft of this did. Regarding the chapter, my apologies to anyone who was expecting action. And apologies for any mistakes - I was down with an ear infection for a few days, and fell behind in my editing schedule, so only got around to doing the final editing for it this morning.  
**

**Once again, thanks to those who've read this, those who've followed and/or favourited it, and a massive, massive thank you to those who've reviewed.**

**Next Chapter: The hunters close in, and Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Ventress spring a trap.**


	20. Narrow Escape

Chapter 20: Narrow Escape

They moved at a walk through the area. They had, at least, missed rush hour, so he didn't have to worry much about workers overhearing his lecture on some techniques that were not supposed to be taught without Council permission, especially not to Padawan's, because they _were_ effective methods of shielding from other Force users, which meant large potential for abuse.

He'd started with some things that could be figured out with some deduction and common sense rather than the harder, prohibited ones. Things like combining the blurring, fading-into-the-background technique he and Anakin had used copiously on that mission to Lanteeb with the reinforced shielding Ahsoka already knew that protected her mind from the debilitating effects of Dark acolytes presences'. That would make it harder for the Council members to locate them; buying time to use to teach more advanced methods, the ones the Council permission was usually needed for. How to disappear into the Force, how to detach yourself so you didn't register in a Force scan, and then the theory of how to build a false signature so someone would not see a person and feel a gap - or nothing - and catch on, though he hoped it wouldn't come to that. He didn't want them to get that close in the first place.

He wondered slightly about the wisdom of letting Ventress overhear this, but reasoned that she already knew how to do much of the stuff he was explaining anyway, just in a different manner, and this might give her the option of using a Jedi method instead of a Sith one.

They were halfway through the maze of factories and generators when he felt a flicker in the Force, where he'd been monitoring the place they had rested, and realised that at least one team had reached it. He passed this on, and fell silent, concentrating on hiding his presence, noticing the other two do the same, Ahsoka concentrating intensely on the newly learned Force skill.

He felt the scan that came a few minutes later pass by without noticing them. It helped, he realised, that they were searching for Dark presences in the Force. Not light or grey. Ahsoka's new shielding probably wouldn't have held if they were looking for her signature specifically - that required reinforcing and mental battle against all the different techniques that could be used to make someone slip up, and she didn't even know what most of those were yet, let alone how to counter them.

"They'll probably follow the trail we left," he murmured, his voice hushed with relief. Ahsoka stared at him.

"We didn't leave a-"

"We did, at first. Like the one Ventress left outside the warehouse. It'll stop, when they reach the point where you managed to hide yourself, but it will give them an idea of direction."

Ventress shrugged, and abruptly veered off to the right. Slightly amused at her unspoken understanding of what he was about to do - or had she just decided that that was the best way to solve the problem on her own? - he and Ahsoka trailed after her.

It was not long after that he began to experience a prickling on the back of his neck, feeling his (shorter) hair stand on end. "Do you-"

"Clones," Ventress interrupted his question, her shoulder tight even as she gazed into the distance, feeling out the answer. "They've surrounded the district."

Surrounded? Completely? He reached out carefully, and found she was right - not only were they surrounded on this floor, but above and below. He swore mentally with the worst words he had picked up from Anakin and a lifetime of travel around the Galaxy. It was a diverse range - Anakin's Huttese to the ARC Clones Mando'a curses to languages from almost anywhere he had spent more than a few days.

This day was going to consist of a long game of tooka and rat, he could tell. "Let's get to their line."

"The thinnest part's over that way," Ahsoka's voice was strained. Ventress gave her a condescending look.

"_That way_ will be a trap then, and we are _not_ going anywhere near it."

"Why not?" The teen demanded. "Anakin says-"

"Spring the trap," Obi-Wan provided. "And again, that's older than Anakin. However, we're attempting to _avoid_ a confrontation here, not win one. Which is what that method is for."

Ventress smirked, and Ahsoka scowled, and Obi-Wan took a deep breath and reminded himself that Jedi Masters were calm, even when their allies were being aggravating. Even if he wasn't a Jedi in name any more, much less a recognised Master. "However, Ahsoka has a point. There are the least amount of Clone's there. It is the sensible place to break through."

"Sensible, except the _trap,"_ Ventress reminded him, and it was his turn to smirk.

"Ah yes, the trap. It may please you to know, Ahsoka, that we _will_ be springing a trap, should everyone agree."

He ignored Ventress' instant, "I don't." He'd ask her opinion once she knew what his plan was.

"Just not their trap. This is a factory area, generating electricity. It should be fairly simple to rig up our own trap, for them. Not quite in their trap, but to one side of it, so they have less reinforcements to call on."

There was a pause, as Ahsoka nodded slowly, eyes bright, and Ventress fought against letting her face show the appeal she found in the irony.

_One dispute successfully mediated,_ he thought in relief. _And we may just have a way out of this noose as well._

They made their way towards the part of the line Ahsoka had pointed out. Obi-Wan surveyed the equipment they had to work with. The line was currently holding. He supposed it made sense. They were known to be in the area, and since there had been police everywhere, their pursuers would have realised that a moving line was something the three of them were able to get past. Even if Obi-Wan doubted that the…method the three of them had used to get past the police sweep would work under different circumstances, there were plenty of hiding places around. At least it gave them space to work - all they had to worry about were the Jedi Masters.

Speaking of them…"they've stopped," he murmured.

"What?" Ahsoka asked absentmindedly, studying the wiring in the control panels, then switching a few around. Ventress watched him with narrowed eyes, having already guessed.

"The Jedi," he elaborated. "They've stopped, where Ahsoka completely shielded her presence." He didn't miss the small, pleased grin that flashed across Ahsoka's face at this, and was glad of it.

They worked on their project, recalibrating the corner rods that would generate a sheet of super-conductive air coloured a bright red, Obi-Wan checking periodically where the group he had sensed were. It worried him, that there was only one group: they were hiding themselves in the Force enough that he could only tell that there were some people there, not how many.

Eventually they were done, the safety mechanisms that limited the size of the sheets disabled, the rods in four clusters of three.

Scouting the area carefully, only meters away from the Clone's at some points with a single wall standing between them and large numbers of blaster bolts being shot at them, they found places for the rods. Two were places on the floor in front of the line, then peering through grimy windows on the upper bits of multi-story buildings allowed them to spot one place on the floor behind the clones and one above the rough centre of the triangle the other three created. A retreat and whispered conference, then they used thin, high capacity wires to link one of the building's generators to one of the easily reached spots, and he waited there as they got into position.

He didn't have to wait long. Ventress sprinted at the line, seeming to come out of nowhere, and he used the noise of shouts and blaster fire to cover the ignition of the long ago Sentinel's lightsaber as he carved a hole into the floor and placed the first bundle in it, knowing Ahsoka was doing the same at the second easily reached spot. He moved as quickly as he could to halfway between his bundle of rods and the ones Ahsoka had just placed as Ventress got past and disappeared into the buildings on the other side, to where she would place her bundle. Ahsoka distracted the Clones from pursuing the former Separatist by appearing on the upper stories of the buildings and appearing to also attempt to break the line, only to be driven higher and higher, and then back by the deadly energy blots coming at her. He felt an affirmative directed through the Force to him as she retreated, going, he knew, to the first spot where making a simple connection would activate the whole thing. He stepped into view, lightsaber spinning against the hail of fire that came his way.

This was the dangerous part.

In the course of their scouting, they'd realised that the reason there were so few Clones in the area to their left was that there were also two Jedi Masters. He had to stall there, deflecting the bolts until the pair came and were inside the invisible triangle based pyramid before Ahsoka could activate it.

Sure enough, moments later, two citibikes sped into view, Plo Koon and then Saesee Tiin leaping off and advancing towards him with lightsabers lit. Obi-Wan swallowed hard, stubbornly locking his mind down as he felt Saesee attempt to read him.

The two Council members advanced down the otherwise deserted street, the blasters going quiet as their Generals got in the way of their line of fire.

It was his men, he realised with sudden shock. They were using _his own men_ to hunt him down.

Warily, watching him for any sudden movement, they passed halfway, the present members of the 212th falling in behind. He stood there, smiling humourlessly, his lightsaber loose and ready by his side, almost insulting in his nonchalance. He noticed them react to this, Plo frowning disapprovingly at him, Saesee lengthening his stride, his jaw clenching. _Good_. If they were annoyed, they wouldn't notice…

They were meters away from him when he sent a pulse through the Force and Ahsoka connected the wires, linking the generator and the bundle of rods, which generated three sheets of air, the fourth coming an infinitesimal moment later as the current passed through the bundles to the rods that created it, completing an enclosure that trapped the clones and two Jedi.

Plo screamed, and Obi-Wan immediately force-pushed him backwards, realising he'd waited a moment too long, and that the Jedi Master's leg had been caught in the sheet. His breath frozen in his lungs, he watched as the Kel Dor landed against Saesee _no no thatwasn'tsupposedtohappen no _who had jumped back when it activated centimetres from his skin, and who caught him. Plo groaned, and Obi-Wan's heart clenched painfully in relief. _Alive_. _Thank the Force._

He was trembling, he realised as his gaze met Saesee's through the red sheet, the low hum and crackle of energy filling the air, reminding him of Naboo, and he turned away from the fear and blame in Saesee's eyes.

"Sith…lightning…"

A shudder ran through him. He supposed it would be an easy assumption to make, since one moment Plo had been advancing towards him, and the next he'd been in severe pain due to electrocution. Wrong…but an easy assumption to make.

Plo raised his head, taking in the shimmering barrier that crackled ever so slightly. "…Oh."

Medics were there, ripping away his trouser leg, and Obi-Wan blanched at the deep burns that were revealed. Localized.

The shouts from nearby troops that had not advanced and been caught brought him back to himself, and with another difficult swallow, he deactivated his lightsaber and ran.

Ahsoka quickly joined him, eyes too wide, fear echoing around her, disrupting her shields so much he could faintly sense it. "What happened, I heard-"

Plo Koon was her friend. The one who'd brought her to the Temple, given her advice, covered up for her when she snuck onto the citadel mission. "I - I miscalculated the distance. No one died but Plo got his leg caught for a moment, it-" his mind kicked in through the horror, automatically analysing the injury, "deep burns, there's medics there, they'll be able to prevent infection and they'll have bacta, and a healing trance will deal with the deepest parts," his voice was shaking too, and she was staring at him, "and a bacta tank when they get the shields it down and can transport him, repeated so the skin has time to adjust as it heals, which won't be long, we need to go-" His voice broke. "They'll have to filter out the debris as it sheds the damaged flesh-"

"He'll be okay?"

"I think so-" Something bleak receded from her eyes, and she shouldered him around to the left of the cage.

"Come on." Her words were tight, but only with pain.

They had little difficulty running around it, breaking through the line, listening to the sound of running feet and shouted orders and yessirs and feeling the other two Jedi approach - Mace Windu and Ki-Adi-Mundi, they weren't bothering to conceal themselves in favour of Force speed. But the two had an entire district to cross, and as soon as Ventress re-joined them they found another lift shaft where the sent the lift to its highest level and then they sprang down, jumping from one side to another with nothing but sheer non-Force-assisted leg strength and agility.

The Clones didn't give chase. From the shouts, their orders had been to hold the line, and not let them though, and the soldiers were focusing on restoring the line. By the time Mace and Ki-Adi got there and gave new orders, the three fugitives would be long gone.

**A.N. I considered having the energy barrier be the sort that Barriss gets caught in by the Clones in the episode with the zombie worms taking over the ship she and Ahsoka are on, but then I realised that they wouldn't be able to control the input anywhere near that much. So, electricity burns! I'm so horrible to them…**

**Next Chapter: Looks in on Mace.**


	21. Precautions

Chapter 21: Precautions

It had not taken long to disable the enclosure. Plo, who had settled into a healing trance, had promptly been rushed back to the Jedi Temple, Mace calling and alerting that they should have healers on standby, then passing the comm to one of the medics that had also been caught so he could give them the details.

He had left him to it and gone to confer with Ki-Adi and Saesee. He'd seen Plo's injury. He didn't need to hear it described.

"It is one thing to realise that a comrade has fallen so far," Ki-Adi murmured as he approached. "Quite another to see the results."

Mace nodded sombrely.

"He looked surprised," Saesee volunteered. "Shocked, even." He stared off into the distance. "I suppose he miscalculated. A moment later and Plo would have died. I might have suffered the same fate."

"You suppose?"

"I couldn't read him," Saesee answered Mace's question with a scowl. "At all."

And they had not sensed Tano, whose presence they had been hoping to track. This was not going particularly well.

A clone trooper ran up. "Generals! We can't find where they've gone, sirs!"

The three Jedi Masters exchanged weary glances.

They had not expected that the Clone's would find anything, Mace mused later as he was on his way back to the Jedi Temple on a borrowed bike. Kenobi had plotted this right under their noses, Tano had been initially undetected after the bombing, and Ventress had been trained by the Sith. Small wonder there was little to indicate where they'd gone. But they had had to look, or risk missing something that could lead them to the traitors and end this conflict.

Kit's arrival had been welcome, although the following discussion about how someone should go back to the Temple to help Yoda guard it and the following vote that selected him to be that person was not. He very much wanted to catch Obi-Wan Kenobi and his accomplices, and did _not_ want to leave the chase. Still…he breathed a sigh of relief as he arrived on the borrowed bike, laying to rest the worry that had nagged at him during his drive back, feeling the warmth and Light of the Temple wrap around him as he approached, undisturbed. Or not: as he drew closer he sensed the unease that Kenobi's betrayal had created, a swirling undercurrent in the Force coming from the Temple's inhabitants, who knew that as a former Council member Kenobi would know the security measures the Temple was capable of.

They'd got away.

They had had the Sith _right there_ and he and Tano and Ventress had got away.

He opened himself to the Force, letting it sooth him as he hadn't been able to while there was the chance that the Sith could be close enough to take advantage of that openness, feeling that much better for it.

Kenobi had always been good at trickery and misdirection. Saesee and Plo knew that, but they'd still walked into a trap. Had they expected Kenobi to suddenly change his tactics now his colours had shown? More blunt, and full of fury, like the Sith of legend? Like Darth Maul had been in the recovered recordings from Naboo, all those years ago?

They had, he admitted to himself. They had expected that, even though they were dealing with someone known to be sneaky, known for _being_ sneaky, a spy who had hidden himself from even the Jedi Council. They had assumed, and it had cost them.

Darksiders tended towards insanity, there was no doubt about that. But Kenobi's actions, while unclear in what had caused them and destructive in nature, had been mostly lucid. And he never would have lasted long hiding from the Council if he was unable to be rational. Not right under their noses.

He banished the thought of the mysterious Sith Lord who Dooku claimed was controlling the Senate. Dooku had probably been lying. Mace hoped he had been lying, though more and more it was looking like he hadn't. It was clever, he supposed, telling them the truth because it wouldn't be believed. If it was true, though, that was still the Senate, which was growing murkier day by day as the war dragged on. A Sith might be able to infiltrate it and hide there.

But not in the heart of the Jedi Order. Not for long. This – Kenobi's Fall – had to be recent.

He pulled into the hanger, leaving the bike in an out of the way corner before he made his way through the Temple to the youngling quarters. Yoda hadn't specifically said he was going to stay there, but Mace knew his old Master. Yoda took protecting the Jedi very seriously, the younglings especially, and he doubted Yoda would be leaving them at all until the threat was dealt with. There were conference rooms near here, after all, and virtual links to strategy rooms located on the other, more official levels.

Sure enough, Yoda was sitting in a spare room in one of the youngling's quarters corridors. Someone else might have stifled a snicker at the sight: Yoda was just the right height for the furniture. Not Mace. Even if he had been the type to find it funny (which he was not) he was too troubled to find humour of any sort right now.

A chair was already pulled out. Mace awkwardly folded himself into it. "Expecting you, I have been."

Mace suppressed a sigh. "We didn't find any sign of him. Them."

Yoda's ears drooped. "Suspected as much I did, when no message to inform me of the outcome of the follow up I received."

Vape. Mace rubbed his eyes. "I apologize. We were somewhat preoccupied organizing how to find them again." He didn't say it as an excuse. It wasn't. It was just a reason, and Yoda accepted it as such, and they both moved on.

"Decide on what methods to use, did you?"

"Mental searches mostly. Focusing on Kenobi, in case they split up, since he's the biggest threat. We voted to send me back here - we confirmed that Ventress is with them, and it seemed prudent to have more than one of us here to defend against the three of them, should it come to that. And now it's clear this is chase is going to be more protracted than expected, so we may need to organise shifts of some sort."

"Wait for a while, that can," Yoda observed, and Mace nodded. The Jedi Council members could draw on the Force to fuel themselves at will, while Kenobi and his accomplices could not do so without being discovered, and would get tired far faster, especially since they needed to keep shielding themselves all the time.

"How is Plo?"

"Recover he will, in time."

Mace let out a slow breath. _Thank the Force._

"Get injured exactly how, did he?"

Yoda wouldn't know that, Mace realised. Their communication had been hurried and curt, dealing with getting the Healers on standby and the fact that the Sith and Tano and Ventress had got away. "He got caught in the curtain of their trap as it activated."

His former Master frowned at him. "Consistent with short exposure to high volumes of electricity his injuries were."

We think he managed to throw himself back before it could do more than the initial damage," Mace elaborated. "Saesee didn't pull him back, that much we know." He'd been too startled for that first moment, and then Plo had already been out. And there wasn't really a third option. The only other one there with Force powers had been a probable Sith Lord, the one who set the trap in the first place. "Have you sensed anything?"

For a moment, Yoda looked somewhat like a puppy that had been kicked for no good reason; confused and slightly hurt, but still loyal. "Silent, the Force is."

"Still?" Mace asked the question more to the air than Yoda. "_Is_ it the Sith that are causing that, do you think?"

The Grand Master of the Jedi Order just shrugged his tiny shoulders somewhat helplessly.

"I've been thinking," Mace said after a moment. "Kenobi knows the security grid of the Temple."

"Nothing there is that we can do about that," Yoda pointed out. "And increase security we cannot: not enough beings are there at the Temple fit for Sentinel guard duty to do so."

"I know. But we can rearrange the people we do have, reinforce some places, change the positions of the Snipers, that sort of thing."

"A good idea, that is." Yoda looked thoughtful. Give me a copy of the new grid, you should."

"I will." Mace stood, then confiscated around half of the workload sitting in front of Yoda to do himself. He might be stuck in the Temple, but he was going to make himself useful while there. "Do remember to get some rest, Master."

"Remember to rest, _you_ should," Yoda countered half seriously, eyeing the datapads Mace was holding.

"Once this is done." Mace inclined his head, and left with the pile before Yoda changed his mind and insisted on it being his responsibility to do them all.

He'd dump them in his quarters and rearrange the Temple Sentinel guard first. Then he'd visit Plo before he got to work on it.

Maybe seeing him alive and on the mend would alleviate the feeling - a fresh feeling that had invaded him a few hours ago, even stronger than that he had felt when they had voted on The Exception - that he had just lost a colleague and friend.

**Next Chapter: The Jedi and fugitives have a reunion (involving lightsabers).**


	22. Skirmish

Chapter 22: Skirmish

Very early the next morning, after keeping watches through a thankfully uneventful night, they set out for the meeting spot they'd read the anti-war terrorist groups' leader would arrive at. They got to the right level easily enough, some non-Force-assisted team acrobatics getting them all up an abandoned lift shaft, and had thankfully managed to avoid the Jedi masters roaming the underworld.

Obi-Wan was monitoring them. He couldn't get a solid location, but he could track the Clones with them, and he could pick up their general position due to his familiarity with them.

Of course, Ahsoka mused, that familiarity went both ways. Obi-wan had had to work far harder than herself or Ventress to keep from being detected, and had woken up several times during her shift at watch, quickly blanking his mind and slipping into meditation and utterly vanishing in the Force as she felt a mind press against her own new shields and slide past, an unmistakable feel of _hunting _emanating from it.

It was as though they'd forgotten her. Discounted her as a threat. She was almost insulted, but it was overpowered by the relief she felt every time she noticed the additional strain on Obi-Wan's face and remembered that they knew the techniques she was using to hide herself: that should it come to a contest of skill between her and the Council members she would come up short, having only just learned how to hide her signature. They would find her, if they searched for her.

But they weren't. They were searching for Obi-Wan, or at least had been all night. They'd gone quiet half an hour or so ago.

All three of them were slightly jumpy because of it, waiting for the other boot to drop.

At least they were on the move again. They'd replenished their supply of water, eaten tasteless ration or protein bars, redistributed the supplies that Obi-Wan had so far been carrying around by himself and gone once he'd had checked her shoulder. It was healing well, but he would apparently prefer her not to strain it, as it would be easy to re-injure for the moment. She'd left the sling off, but kept it on her, looped several times around her lower arm.

Then they'd climbed the lift shaft of a lift that had broken down. She had ignored the warning instead of favouring the arm as she had yesterday, at first, and only Obi-Wan catching her other wrist when she put her weight on it prevented her from having to use the Force to strengthen it to keep from falling.

On the flipside, at least the healing trance had mostly got rid of the bruises from her fight with the mysterious Dark Jedi. She hadn't realised quite how much stiffness they had caused, and was now feeling rather a lot better - and a bit sheepish for not doing so before.

Ahsoka wasn't really sure how to talk to the imposing bounty hunter. What could she say? _Why are you helping us?_ She doubted she would get an honest answer. Ventress was still holding Obi-Wan's lightsaber hostage to ensure they wouldn't leave her behind. _Sorry I thought it was you who attacked me?_ She'd been kicking herself over that, but the facts were that she hadn't particularly trusted the ex Sith, and was still a bit wary of her. She'd be apologizing for not realizing, not for believing Ventress would do so in the first place.

Ventress hadn't brought it up. Ahsoka wouldn't unless she did so first.

A train rushed by overhead. People talked a few streets over, the sounds echoing quietly enough that Obi-Wan and Ventress probably couldn't hear it. No one where they were, though.

Just as well.

Obi-Wan was trailing behind, frowning at the ground as though it would rearrange itself into words spelling out the will of the Force if he stared hard enough. He was blaming himself for Master Plo's injury, she knew. Thinking about it wasn't something she was going to do, though. If she did, she'd have to sort out the complicated tangle of emotions that had settled heavily in her gut, because Obi-Wan hadn't injured Master Plo on purpose, and Master Plo…Master Plo had been there to kill them.

Not. Going. To. Think. About. It.

She almost missed the bickering. Oh, it had been disconcerting and odd and had challenged her perceptions of both Ventress and Obi-Wan, but it had filled the spaces that were hanging open awkwardly now it had stopped. And it had been interesting. She hadn't know they had that much history with each other. (Though there seemed to be some topics they were skirting around, such as when Ventress had held Obi-Wan captive. That…was probably for the best.)

She rubbed a hand over her forehead, feeling the pressure of a developing headache and wishing she'd drank more before they set off.

Ventress almost seemed to - not soften, but relax, a bit, when arguing with him. Obi-Wan on the other hand…she'd compared it to him and Anakin, but that wasn't quite right. He was almost freer, with Ventress. She supposed it had to do with never having been a role model and mentor to her the way he had to Anakin.

She unclipped the flask from her belt, intending to take a gulp, when the world came crashing down around her head.

She might have screamed. She wasn't sure.

Dimly, she realised she had collapsed, someone's arm around her holding her up and a hand on her shoulder, someone repeating her name _Ahsoka, Ahsoka you have to focus on us,_ and someone else' voice echoing _found you._

A sharp shake knocked her back to awareness, and she realised she was kneeling on the ground, Obi-Wan's arm the only thing keeping her upright, Ventress letting go of her shoulders. Her head was throbbing. "What-"

"They must have decided to find you and hope I was there, since they couldn't find me." Obi-Wan's voice was grim. "Are you alright?"

Shakily getting to her feet, she nodded, then winced, swaying, leaning on him to stop herself from falling back down. "Ow…"

A moment later she pulled away, steadier. "I…I'm fine." She blinked away the rest of the haziness. "I just didn't - didn't realise it would - " She trailed off.

"It shouldn't have hurt you like that. I suspect they honed in too fast so you wouldn't notice until it was too late." Obi-Wan was hurriedly scanning their surroundings.

Ventress pulled Obi-Wan's lightsaber to hand. "Who is it?"

"Saesee, Ki-Adi and Kit," Obi-Wan muttered, eyeing the end of the street. He made a frustrated noise. "We don't have _time_ for this."

"Too bad. I suggest we get it out of the way as quick as possible." Ventress' eyes narrowed. "And choose the battle ground and match ups. I've not fought Tiin, how good is he?"

"Good, but not as much as the other two, he's primarily an ace pilot and relies quite a bit on his telepathy during lightsaber combat. Djem So specialist." Obi-Wan quickly reeled off the relevant information.

"Tano," Ventress snapped, and Ahsoka nodded.

"We need to keep the Clone's away," Obi-Wan took over. "There's less of them around than they used yesterday -"

"Speeders," Ahsoka interrupted, and one word was all it took for them both to understand what she meant.

"We're near the artificial sink hole, it's a route centre, there's a rental. They'll be kept busy securing them all and clearing the place of people," Ventress snapped. "There's street endings that look onto it all over the place, we can find a bottleneck in case they're not all occupied."

"And that'd be out of the way," Ahsoka heard Obi-Wan mutter to himself as they started to run, drawing on the Force to increase their speed. No point in concealment now.

They reached a street end above the large platform at the edge of the sinkhole just as the Jedi found them.

"I get Mundi," Ventress muttered out of the corner of her mouth. Obi-Wan scowled at her.

"This is _not _the time for grudges-"

"I've improved a lot since then."

"You've also won against Kit before." His tone didn't brook argument.

Ahsoka looked around, taking in the space. No clones up here, though she could hear and sense them moving down below. There wasn't much room for three separate lightsaber duels, and there were rotting boxes piled against the wall.

Master Fisto was at the front as the three blocked the exit. His grin had fallen off his face. "Stand down. Now."

Ahsoka felt Ventress' hand on her shoulder as Obi-Wan stepped from her other side, sighed, and raised his lightsaber. "We refuse."

Black eyes bored into the former Jedi High Council member. Ahsoka shivered, glad she was not the recipient of that gaze. "Surrender, Sith. This is your last chance."

In an instant, Obi-Wan's face completely closed off. His only answer was the ignition of the yellow lightsaber.

Ahsoka and Ventress took several steps back as the nautolan charged, Ventress completely ignoring what Obi-Wan had said before. "_Sith?"_ she muttered incredulously. "They think _Kenobi's_ a Sith?"

"That," Ahsoka muttered back sardonically, watching as Master Mundi and Master Tiin advanced towards them, warily edging around the duelling pair, "Was how I reacted." Or pretty close, at any rate.

The ex Sith shook her head as they both activated their lightsabers. "Well, I suppose Sidious or Tyranus could have faked evidence; they did want him out of the way last time I heard. This would be an opportunity for them to do that."

Using the Jedi. Ahsoka wanted to protest, that the Jedi would know if the Sith were using them like that, would know if a Sith had any influence over them, but given how they'd been reacting to things lately, she couldn't come up with a solid argument before the two other Masters got past the fight and Ventress added, "I'll leave you two to it," and leaped to the side, pushing off the wall so she landed behind Master Mundi, prompting the cerean to spin to face her, and leaving Ahsoka alone with Master Tiin. She swallowed nervously, gripping her 'sabers tighter. _Keep your mind locked down. Use the Force to support your shoulder._ She ducked to the side of the first blow, evading, blocking, getting a feel for how he fought. Obi-Wan hadn't been kidding when he said Saesee Tiin was good. The Jedi Master might prefer a starfighter to a lightsaber, but he was still very good at using one.

But he used Djem So, which Ahsoka knew well how to defend against from hours of practice against Anakin, and she was smaller and more agile. It actually got easier as the fight went on, the movement loosening up her stiff-from-healing joints, to the point that she was no longer desperately dodging fatal attacks and ducking in circles, but holding her own, managing to keep up and block, still on the defensive but no longer letting the fight be dictated by him. This wasn't so bad. She'd fought Grievous, she could handle a Council member.

Backing away, she tried to go on the offense, only to be blocked easily and then barely evade the counter attack, a cooling scorch mark on her boot a souvenir of a hastily aborted kick. It hadn't got through to her leg, though.

Pain bloomed through the Force, and her heart leapt to her mouth and she stumbled, just slightly-

The distraction nearly cost her her life. She barely got her shoto up in time to block, and felt the jolt travel through her shoulder - _vape it!_ - which flared with pain, and she got her primary lightsaber up to catch the next blow, scrambling backwards as he pressed forward, knowing she was weakened.

And then Ventress was there, boot colliding with his wrist, knocking his attack off and bringing Obi-Wan's blade down on his head. He blocked, and she pushed him back, refusing to disengage from the blade-lock, teeth bared in a snarl, and Ahsoka clobbered him on the back of the head with her lightsaber.

He stumbled, dazed, and she disarmed him as Ventress pulled out some thin cord and whipped it around his legs, pulling them together and tying it, then she kicked out his knees from behind and Ventress yanked his wrists behind his back, securing them with the force-blocking binders that flew to her hand just as there was a loud clatter that had her pushing aside the memory of being beaten down by a Dark Jedi in a warehouse on level 1315.

She looked around. Master Mundi was collapsed against the wall, lightsaber cuts on his arms and legs rendering him immobile. She caught a glimpse of green tentacles and Jedi-issue boots sticking out from under a pile of debris - the railing, ripped from its place, the remains of the boxes that had been lying at the side of the street, their contents of rusted plumbing pipes now heaped loose.

Obi-Wan was still standing, lowering his hand, shoulders slumping as he deactivated the yellow lightsaber. He looked around, relief and weariness radiating from his posture in equal measure as he saw them also standing.

He dredged up a half-hearted smile from somewhere, and Ahsoka managed to return it. They'd won.

It didn't feel much like winning.

Ventress gave them a look that could almost be taken as sympathetic, though it didn't last long enough for her to be sure. Then the moment was broken by blaster fire, and they spun round, lightsabers reigniting, automatically reflecting the bolts back on their shooters, who dived for cover and kept shooting.

Pointing with his free hand, Obi-Wan directed their attention to another street end, and they leapt for it, hitting it running. She saw him glance at his chrono, a frown appearing on his face.

Time to crash a meeting.

**A.N. First, sorry it's a day late. I didn't realise until yesterday that the draft I had only had two of the Jedi chasing them in the fight, with no explanation for the disappearance of the third (a leftover from an earlier draft where the Jedi didn't know Ventress was with them, so were going out in teams of two, I think), so I had to completely rewrite it. :(**

**Second, my thanks to everyone who's reading this story, who's followed and/or favourited it, and a special thanks to my reviewers - you are awesome. Seriously.  
**

**Next Chapter: Obi-Wan's POV of the fight, and a crashed meeting.**


	23. Informed

Chapter 23: Informed

His exasperation with Ventress only lasted a moment - he hadn't really expected her to heed his words - and then he had to bring his lightsaber up between Kit's and his own neck, and the fight was on.

It was rather like fighting Anakin, or Mace. A different style, of course, but the same tactics: a relentless offense that could batter down almost any opponent's defence.

_Almost_ any opponent.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was not almost any opponent, and was in fact rather good at defending himself.

Still, he was slightly astonished when he found himself not giving up much ground. It had been over a year since he last sparred with Kit, and while Obi-Wan knew intellectually that he had improved since then, it was one thing to know that, and quite another to see one of the Jedi's renowned sword-masters smashing up against his defence and not getting through. He didn't let that go to waste, and backed up, preventing Ki-Adi and Saesee from getting behind his back and either getting through that way to Ahsoka and Ventress or attacking him from behind, giving them just a little more time to get mentally ready for the fight.

There was the sound of lightsabers igniting, and Kit renewed his attack, preventing Obi-Wan from looking around to check how they were doing as he had to put all his focus into anticipating Kit's Force-speed augmented attacks until he had to unexpectedly duck under a blue lightsaber that came from behind him and roll to the side, springing to his feet to find Ki-Adi-Mundi glaring at him and standing back to back with Kit, as Ventress circled around so the two were trapped between them.

He breathed in slowly, then slammed the two with a Force push that took them completely by surprise. They slammed into the wall with a dull thump, Ki-Adi springing up a moment later from on top of Kit, who had cushioned his impact by being between him and the wall. Kit gave him a disgusted look as he followed his colleague to his feet and charged again, and Obi-Wan remembered that Kit abhorred excessive Force use in combat, but right now he didn't particularly care about Kit's opinion of him. It couldn't get much worse, after all. He wasn't sure if he could get through Kit's guard - and even if he did, what would he do? Kill? Maim? No. Force use was the best chance he had of ending this without someone dying.

There was something that sounded like an explosion, and he realised that Ki-Adi had followed his lead in including Force based attacks as Ventress narrowly avoided becoming a smear in the centre of a new crater decorating the wall. He caught Ventress' eye, and then he broke away from Kit, switching seamlessly from defence to offense as he darted around Ki-Adi, putting him between Obi-Wan and Kit and catching him in a blade lock just long enough for Ventress to recover and make Shiim cuts on his saber arm and one leg. That leg collapsed beneath him, and Obi-Wan winced at the gasp he emitted. He blocked the pain from reaching him through the Force, but he knew from his experience at Dooku's hands on Geonosis just how painful those were.

Ventress coolly did the same to Ki-Adi's other arm and leg as Kit attacked once more, a desperate fury in his strikes that hadn't been there before, this time attempting to get past Obi-Wan to between Ki-Adi and Ventress. Sensing more than seeing Ventress step back and nod, Obi-Wan let him past.

They stopped there for a moment, Kit standing guard over his downed colleague, glaring fiercely at Obi-Wan and Ventress, all of them breathing heavily. He tilted his head, and Ventress left it to him, breaking away to assist Ahsoka.

The longer they stayed here fighting, the closer the clones - was that the Wolfpack? - came to clearing and securing the platform below them and coming up to join in, endangering themselves like the police had, and the less likely they were to reach that meeting in time and find out who was behind all of this.

This needed to end.

He attacked, darting just in and out of reach, tactics designed to cause frustration and thus loss of focus. After a moment, he reached with the Force to the boxes that were piled against the wall - then suddenly and obviously he ripped the railing from its place, and Kit's lightsaber jerked up, flashing to cut it in half-

And the nautolan was hit by the remnants of the boxes and all of their contents - rusted pipes, abandoned as useless. Useless for plumping, perhaps, but they were solid, and numerous, and they slammed into Kit with as much force as was necessary to hurl him back against the wall and bury him in them, semi-conscious.

That may have been slightly overdoing it, Obi-Wan realised without much sympathy as he noted just how many bones had been broken - Kit would not be getting up anytime soon, certainly not before a trip to the Healers. But it had worked.

Ki-Adi was staring at him, confusion in his pain-clouded gaze. Suddenly feeling sick - he'd just seriously injured a second Jedi, and he couldn't even bring himself to regret this one - Obi-Wan averted his eyes, deactivating the lightsaber and looking to the other fight.

Saesee was down, tied up rather thoroughly. Ahsoka was on her feet. Ventress was on her feet. Ki-Adi and Kit were down, too injured to move.

They were still alive. He managed a shaky smile for his grand Padawan, and felt just a little less like someone was jabbing shards of ice at his gut when she returned it.

There was a prickling on the back of his neck, and then the sound of blasters firing, and he deflected the bolts at him, too numb to wince as death echoed through the Force, letting the Force guide his movement as he looked for a way out - there.

They jumped, and ran.

Run. Train - they were the fastest way to get around. Leap off its roof - _we have five minutes to make it_ - note how Ahsoka was holding her arm as they took off after Ventress - to be expected, given the fight they just had, but inconvenient though he doubted (hoped) it wasn't too badly hurt.

She wasn't shielding her presence from notice the way he and Ventress had instinctively done - _great Kenobi, now you have more in common with the former Sith assassin than a Jedi Padawan_ - inexperience meaning she probably just hadn't thought of it, and hadn't had time to concentrate enough on the new techniques to make them effective if she had remembered.

Remembering her swaying on her feet, crumpling as Saesee's mind hit her with dangerous speed, the glazed look in her eyes as she came back to consciousness through the pain - what did the Council think they were _doing_? No matter the subject of the invasion, doing that to another being's mind was wrong. Even if it was a Sith. Especially if it was an innocent Jedi Padawan.

Kit Fisto's eyes bored into his from his memory. _Surrender, Sith. This is your last chance._

It was just confirmation. He'd known they thought that, known from the moment the words _expelled from the Jedi Order for his actions_ had rung out across all Coruscant, maybe even the whole Republic, Palpatine's voice condemning him. Known since Plo's assumption that him and electricity meant Sith lightning. He'd_ known_.

It shouldn't affect him to hear it spoken.

(Even by one of his friends.)

It_ shouldn't._

Right. Left. Straight ahead, and then they were in the main streets and had to slow down lest the crowd notice them and give them away, even with the Force making them seem uninteresting. He'd have preferred some sort of disguise, and from the furtive looks around Ahsoka was doing she felt the same, but the sheer number of people seemed to protect them from being noticed and identified.

A small, yet vital mercy.

They pressed through, coming to what seemed to be a courtyard, or crossroads. A few gestures, and they settled around it, scanning the crowd repeatedly for any sign that might pick out a terrorist leader.

Eyes were next to useless in this case: they had no visual on how to spot the person. Obi-Wan closed his eyes, skimming quickly over the crowd around him with his mind, looking for more than usual anxiety, or cool calculation, listening with his ears and hoping _please Force_ that the Force might bring the appropriate conversation to his ears, taking a role as it had not done for days. He had to drop some of his concealment to do so, but that was okay, because there were no Jedi Masters close enough other than Kit and Ki-Adi and Saesee anyway, and they were otherwise occupied.

Days. Just days. It seemed like such a short space of time.

He felt a mind brush against his own, and briefly fought to stop his heart from hammering it's way right out of his chest before he recognised Ahsoka. A general feeling of _triumph, recognition, prey found_ emanated from her, and he got a sense - not a glimpse, because she didn't have a natural aptitude for mind arts or the training, but a sense - of a woman with long blond hair and a sharp face. He met her eyes across the flow of people, and she jerked her head to the side.

In that direction, there was a pair of people walking away, one human female and one rodian male. Quickly checking with the Force, he felt a nervous tension from the man - not unusual, he'd felt that from many in the crowd - slightly more pronounced than most, but not very noticeably. The woman, on the other hand, felt sharp, like the blade of a knife, calculating and precise and deadly.

It was their best bet. And it felt right.

Not quite daring to make mental contact with Ventress, he reached out and used the force to poke her in the shoulder to get her attention.

They followed the two through the streets, noting that they were once again heading away from the populated areas. The targets were talking quietly, and Obi-Wan enhanced his hearing but still couldn't hear anything they were saying - some sort of subtle distortion field? Or just too much interference?

He leaned towards the distortion theory as they got further away, having to drop back as they entered yet another run down residential area where there were far fewer people. He let Ventress take the lead, sensing more than seeing Ahsoka do the same. Out of them, the former Sith assassin was the best at this.

He felt like banging his head against something briefly as he realised where they were headed: a run-down industrial area. _Again? How fond of abandoned warehouses are these people?_

But it seemed he'd got ahead of himself, as Ventress' force signature - which he and Ahsoka were following, so as not to be in sight, (an advantage to having run into the searching Jedi and prevented them from following, even if he wasn't going to forget the method they had used to find them by a long shot) - veered off, then slowed.

He caught up with her before Ahsoka, finding her standing in the cupboard at the bottom of a stairwell. "So?"

"Ambush them. Interrogation-" she caught the look Ahsoka gave her as the togruta joined them "-squeamish Jedi. Interrogation with mind tricks, I meant, we might be able to make them forget we were here after. Injuries would hamper that."

Obi-Wan just sighed and refrained from comment.

After a brief huddle and a fair amount of whispering, Ventress went outside and scaled the outside to the next visible level - there were several floors she could reach that way: it was a high ceilinged street - and Ahsoka and he parted to climb the normal and backup stairs, respectively. He waited until Ahsoka sent out a pulse in the Force (it was, he noted with approval and slight surprise, just effective enough to be noticed, but not obnoxiously loud in the way of a beginner that had no idea how much was needed to produce the ripple and so used far too much. She'd clearly been practicing since he'd last sensed her do that, even though it was a skill she almost never would need,) and opened the door with a thought, stepping through with his lightsaber - well, his backup lightsaber - held loosely in his hand, visible and ready for use at a moment's notice, but not activated.

"Hallo there," he greeted them pleasantly as the window opened without hands and Ventress swung through, and Ahsoka appeared to block the back way out of the (full of crates of explosives) apartment. (Actually, apartment was being a bit general, given the spaces he'd seen the word applied to on the surface. Maybe "set of small rooms".)

The woman's long ponytail whipped over her shoulder as she snapped her head between the three of them, her face blank as her eyes narrowed to slits.

The rodian's eyes widened, then narrowed, hatred radiating off of him. "Well, if it isn't the Jedi who fell from grace," he sneered at them.

_Breathe. Don't let the words affect you. _Over the being's head, he saw Ahsoka not quite manage to conceal a flinch. _"_Why?"

The word tumbled out of his mouth. The woman's face cranked into a smirk as she pondered the answer.

"Why what?"

Ahsoka snarled before he could speak. "Don't give us that, you - you monster! Why blow up the Temple? Why frame me for it?"

The woman's expression didn't change as she looked over to the togruta. Her words were tone neutral, yet somehow carried an impression of disdain. "I was not the one who chose to frame you. You or any other Jedi, it matters little to me as long as it was _a_ Jedi. The one who chose _you_ was an agent of ours."

"One in the Temple." Obi-Wan stated, unnaturally calm to his own ears. "A Jedi."

She showed no surprise. "Yes."

Ventress prowled in closer. The man snarled at her, and she grabbed him with the Force, throwing him into the opposite wall with an offhand gesture. He hit it with a thump, and Obi-Wan saw a new dent where skull and wall had collided as the being collapsed to the floor. She paid no more attention to him.

"Do you honestly think I'm just going to give up the name of one of my most valuable assets?" The woman sneered at them, shifting her weight subtly. Ventress saw, though, and caught her wrist as she pulled a vibro-knife, the woman's hand spasming open as Ventress tossed her over her shoulder. Breath rushed out of her in a gasp as she hit the floor none too gently. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the blue stripes on Ahsoka's montrails pale.

Ventress pulled the knife into her hand. "Yes. I do think that."

He moved in. He didn't think Ventress would actually go through with the implicit threat, but he remembered all too well just how much the ex Sith had been capable of in the past. "You _will_ tell us who the Jedi who blew up the Temple hanger and framed Ahsoka is."

He felt her will fighting his. Not surprising. She didn't want to give up the identity.

There were some very tricky ethical questions about forcing information out of someone this way. Before the war, it had been viewed as a repulsive, borderline tactic. Now, it was seen as unpleasant, but occasionally a necessity.

He rather suspected the older view was more accurate. But they needed to know, and there was another bomb possibly about to go off in the Jedi Temple, given the rodian's words a few days ago about keeping momentum and more strikes, and she wasn't going to give up the information willingly. And he had a feeling that if he _didn't_ get the information out of her, Ventress would step in and take over. On one hand, that showed that she did care, on the other…torture was not something he wanted to be party to. And there was the fact that Ahsoka would probably be scarred by the knowledge that it had been done to help her. And Ventress might backslip because of it. And it wasn't even a reliable method of obtaining information.

"You _will_ tell us."

Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she struggled weakly against Ventress' unyielding grip, trying to get away from him. He pushed any regrets to the side, to be dealt with later, when he didn't need his full concentration for this. "I…"

"You _will_ tell us." This time Ventress joined him, half hissing the words, making up for what she lacked in practiced technique with passion. He shuddered slightly at the feel of that Darkness-tinted Force mingling with his own Force suggestion. Or was it his Force suggestion mingling with greyness of Ventress'? He didn't know.

"B-Barriss," it was a choked gasp, forcing its way out against her will. "Barriss Offee." Then her eyes rolled back in her head as she fell unconscious.

So.

Numbly, he got to his feet. Looked at Ahsoka, standing guard over the being Ventress had tossed into a wall, her eyes wide, shoulders slumped. "No…"

He walked over, slowly, somehow feeling less than steady on his feet, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Ahsoka…"

He trailed off too. There wasn't anything he _could_ say, really. "I'm sorry."

Ventress snorted, breaking the numbness. "Wasn't anything to do with you, Kenobi." She loomed over the rodian. "Anything about that next strike to tell us?"

The man blearily gazed up at her, gaze flickering to Obi-Wan every few seconds. There was fear in it. Obi-Wan swallowed, attempting to get rid of the forming lump in his throat. It didn't work.

Ventress slapped him across the face. He supposed he appreciated that she was restraining herself. "I asked you a question!"

A cruel smirk crawled up one side of his face, his eyes fixing on Obi-Wan's. Intermingled with the fear, was a horrible look of triumph. "The next strike, huh? She just told me - and I suppose I can tell you, you stuck up Jedi _sleemo_. You wouldn't make it in time." Obi-Wan felt his heart clench. _Oh no…_

"There's going to be another bomb at your precious Temple." The smirk changed to a friendly smile then, directed at Ahsoka, the look horribly at odds with the hatred in his eyes and what he was saying. "Don't worry. I imagine they'll blame it on the former Jedi Master rather than you. They seem more up in arms about him as a fugitive than they did about you."

"Where?" he demanded shortly.

A languorous shrug. "Left to Offee's discretion. It's a leisure area this time, though."

Obi-Wan blanched. They weren't even going for a semi-military target like the hanger had been?

"When?" he forced the word out of his frozen lungs. It came out sharp.

"Oh, I'd say in around a couple of hours." His eyes glinted maliciously. "Like I said. You'd never get up there in time. And you're gonna get _all_ the blame."

**A.N. Well, that ended up rather darker than I intended. It was never going to be a cheerful chapter, given what happens in it, but even so…oops?**

**Next Chapter: The start of an attack on the Temple. From a certain point of view.  
**


	24. Certainty

Chapter 24: Certainty

"Climbing through the levels like we've been doing won't work, it's too far. We need a speeder." Asajj thought aloud.

Thank you, Miss Obvious," Tano muttered. Giving the teen an irritated look - that was _her_ line - she interrupted herself.

"I know how to get there. I'm just explaining _why_ I chose that, so I don't have to endure your questions."

Why had she even agreed to this idiocy, again? Right, her lightsabers. And she had to admit that it was a very good opportunity to unmask Offee to the Jedi. (Kenobi and Tano had also mentioned something about innocents in the Temple. When she'd pointed out that this was the Jedi, who'd expelled them, the answer she'd got had been that that had been the Council, and that there were plenty of Jedi who had been uninvolved in those decisions.)

Of course, that meant showing the Jedi that it was Offee. And since the Jedi in the underworld were accompanied by Clone troops, (who had an executive order to shoot them, which according to Kenobi would override any command to hold fire by their generals in the unlikely event that said Jedi Generals did choose to listen) that meant going to the Jedi Temple and unmasking Offee themselves.

The Jedi Temple. She only knew it from Ky's descriptions and the glimpses she'd had of it from a distance. And she'd long ago buried the wish to see the inside.

"Whatever it is, we need it soon," Kenobi murmured, staring into the distance. Probably checking the location of the Council members they downed.

_Sith_. It had almost made her laugh, only it wasn't funny. Kenobi? Force knew Tyranus had done his best to turn the barve, and it hadn't worked. She'd done her best to break him, and that hadn't worked either.

That the Jedi would jump to the worst conclusion available…it meant that the plan Tyranus had boasted to her about, in confidence, Master to apprentice, was not as outlandish as she'd thought. She'd half suspected he was misleading her, telling her a false plan to stop her from discovering what his real intentions towards the Jedi Order were, then, and resented it. Resented that she hadn't been good enough for him to trust her with what he actually had in store for the Jedi Order. That he still wanted Kenobi, even if he'd given up on turning him, because she'd been sure that Dooku would have trusted Kenobi with the real plans. But he might have been telling the truth. In fact, it would make sense of how the Jedi Order had reacted to perceived betrayal. The Jedi Order was already taking orders from the senate, which was being controlled by Sidious - the realisation struck her, deduction and pieces of conversation she'd heard but not comprehended the full meaning of coming together. The Senate was run by Sidious. But it was also run by the Chancellor's office. And the Jedi, when dealing with the senate did so _through the chancellor's office_. Which also gave them their orders regarding the war effort.

…Well. She had to admire the boldness in hiding in a position that caused so much contact with the Jedi.

"So what are we doing?" Tano looked rather depressed. Asajj - still feeling slightly stunned - barely managed to ignore her impulse to describe, in detail, just what she wanted to do to Offee right then. She shook off the feeling, put Sidious out of her mind for now and reminded herself that her current annoyance was with the Galaxy in general. She didn't care. Kenobi would infer otherwise should she speak about that, so it wasn't worth the effort, and the description might traumatize Tano.

A traumatized teammate probably wouldn't be the best sort to have watching her back on this fools errand.

And she was trying to leave that person she'd been behind.

"We take a police speeder," she shrugged, changing the main track of her thoughts to something actually _useful_ and wondering in a corner of her mind just when she'd started to trust that the pair _would_ watch her back. "No one will notice the numbers that note where it's assigned, and the upper levels are sometimes called on for the surface. Or they might assume it's part of the search effort. It will get us past the security checks as long as they don't notice we've taken it, and we won't attract the attention we would if we took over a Jedi transport."

She resisted the urge to smirk as she saw Kenobi rub his forehead. Yes, she had considered that, if only briefly. But it wasn't inconspicuous enough for their purpose, even if they could get their hands on one of the ones that had brought the Council bastards down here – unlikely, since those had probably gone back to the Jedi Temple by now.

"I suppose we'll just be walking in the front door?" Kenobi's tone of voice was resigned. Between Tano's straightforwardness and his former apprentice's difficulty being subtle, she supposed he must have become rather used to that type of idiocy.

"Of course." She did smirk this time, and continued on as though she couldn't sense him hoping she wasn't serious through the Force. It wasn't actually a bad idea, though obviously - _kriff_ it, it had only been a few days, she shouldn't have started picking up habits from the pair of them - bursting through the front doors would be an idea likely to get them all skewered. But she'd think about how to get them in once they were on their way there. "There's a station around here somewhere."

The Force nudged her. She stopped in consternation. It didn't normally do that, and when it did, she ignored it. Listening only lead to pain for people like her. But Tano and Kenobi were Jedi (no matter what that Council of theirs said), so…

She looked down the street it had directed her to. There was a police station there, tucked away from casual view. More a staging post than a station by the look of it. Good. "Er, there." She berated herself for the words a moment later. They could see it for themselves: she'd seen them react to the nudge too, turning to look in that direction without the hesitation she'd had.

They snuck around and stole a speeder easily enough. Leaving Tano to drive, she quickly came up with a plan to get inside and told them it - Kenobi grumbled a bit, Tano's eyes brightened slightly - then turned her thoughts to the Sith's plan again.

She'd been trying to stay uninvolved with the whole Jedi and Sith war, dammit. She was sick of it, sick of it all. And yet…

Tano weaved around the traffic like a police speeder in a hurry would: Kenobi gave a long-suffering sigh and closed his eyes to mentally prepare himself.

Once they'd exposed Offee, Asajj resolved. They all had enough to worry about now, but she'd consider telling them what she knew then.

* * *

Mace Windu's first reaction when Clone Commander Wolffe called in to report that the three Jedi General's had been defeated was, _not good._

The second was a stray thought in the back of his head that he had clearly spent far too much time in the company of the Council member who had recently defected to the Sith.

The third was relief and surprise that they were still alive, if they'd lost a fight to a Sith Lord. Kenobi had shown that he was not afraid of killing innocents with the bomb in the hanger, as had Tano, and Ventress had a rather large tally of dead Jedi to her name.

They really should have wondered more when she came to Kenobi's rescue after that incident with Darth Maul and Savage Opress.

He didn't have time to ponder it right then, though, because he had to get the injured Jedi out of their compromised and extremely dangerous situation as soon as possible. Kenobi could change his mind at any time and come back. The Wolfpack would get their Generals to the sinkhole edge, but they needed picked up, and Mace intended to be there with a Jedi healer to cover their escape if needed and start treating their wounds with the Force as soon as possible, respectively.

And if Saesee was indeed as uninjured as he claimed, the two of them might take the risk of continuing the chase.

Grabbing the first Healer he came across, he hurried to the hanger, ordering armed retrieval vehicles prepped for as soon as possible as his commlink beeped.

It was Master Yoda, who had sensed his unrest, and he quickly explained what had happened as he watched the armed transports be brought out, fuelled, stocked with ammunition and medical supplies. By the end, Yoda's ears had curled, and he was looking uncharacteristically worried. But before they could talk over the main things that were bothering them both, Anakin Skywalker had to choose that moment to report in, which was re-routed to conference with Yoda's comm.

"Masters, I've-" he blinked, looking around at the two of them. They were obviously not in the Council chambers, and there were only two of them there. "Er, should I do this later?"

Mace allowed himself a sigh. "Now," he pronounced gravely, "is as bad a time as any other. Continue."

The young Knight's expression of determined irritation melted slightly, confusion showing. "Well, we've took the main landing area - retook, actually, it had been lost, though out troops had still held onto several others created since the first assault."

This would have been easily transmitted via a written report. Indeed, that would be Skywalker's usual method of informing them of such a minor victory. Had the boy thought he was on thin ice with the Council after Kenobi and Tano's defection?

He was on thin ice - but Skywalker was almost permanently there due to something or other. He hadn't bothered to go above and beyond what protocol required in terms of deferring to the Council then, like he was doing now by informing them of this in person.

So he'd contacted Coruscant for the sake of contacting Coruscant, swallowing his pride in the process. At some other time, Mace might have been impressed at the step forward in embracing humility, but right now his predominant thought as he watched the clone crew arrive and begin pre-flight checks was `_here it comes…`_

"May I ask how the investigation's going?"

No, was what he wanted to say. Skywalker was best kept as far away from Kenobi and Tano as possible, for his own sake. But that wouldn't be an appropriate answer. Skywalker was many things, and Mace distrusted his emotional nature, but the Knight was worthy of trust regarding this incident. He nodded, and was about to speak when Yoda spoke for the first time since Skywalker joined them.

"Not well, it is going." He glared at the young Jedi then, an expression Mace knew was meant to drive a point home. "Severely injured Master Plo Koon was, and on their way to the Halls of Healing to join him are Masters Kit Fisto and Ki-Adi-Mundi."

Shock flitted across the young Jedi's face. Mace knew the feeling.

After all, he'd refused to believe Dooku had fallen as far as he had until Geonosis.

"They - how-" Skywalker visibly pulled himself together. "How badly are they injured?"

"Master Koon will recover, and Master Fisto is battered, but nothing the Healers can't fix," Mace answered, since he had been the one to take the call from Commander Wolffe. He didn't want to crush the spark in the boy's eyes when he heard that, but they were Jedi. Attachments were dangerous because of precisely this: they had to let them go and accept the truth. "Master Mundi, on the other hand, has lightsaber injuries of as yet undetermined severity."

"But alive?" The spark was still in Skywalker's eyes. They hadn't got through to him.

"At the last time we heard," he confirmed Skywalker's hopes reluctantly, watching the transports finish preparations. He was relieved that none of his fellows had been killed, certainly, but there was an unease, a feeling of _missing something_ that had accompanied the news, and that was growing now as he thought over it again. Why had Kenobi and his accomplices left them alive?

"Then-"

Skywalker was interrupted by Mace and Yoda's comms going off as Mace hurried across the hanger to take his place on the transport. Grateful for the interruption - he didn't _want_ to be arguing this, the betrayal cut deep enough without having to go over it yet again, faced with Skywalker's irrational faith, when he knew the young Knight was wrong - he pressed the button that added the caller to the conference.

Then he heard what the sniper had to say, and he wasn't glad for the interruption at all.

**A.N. And so it all starts to converge…**

**Next Chapter: Breaking into the Jedi Temple.**


	25. Alarm

Chapter 25: Alarm

It turned out Ventress' plan _was_ to just walk in the front doors.

Or at least, it was for _him_ to walk through the secondary, less grand front door, his robe concealing his armour, hood up to fool any facial recognition scanners that might be pointed his way, his skill in disguising his signature in the Force tested to its limit by projecting a signature suitable to a Padawan. That, Ventress had snickered, would be backed up by "that baby face of yours".

Ruefully running a hand over his smooth chin, he had to admit she was right. It was, after all, the reason he'd grown his beard in the first place. And why he'd known that shaving it would cause him to be far less recognisable.

Still, he was in his late thirties. And a Jedi Master, even if the Order wasn't currently recognising him as such. Being able to pass for a Padawan was…well, slightly embarrassing.

(He supposed he should be glad that his hair wasn't long, and so didn't have to endure them giving him a fake Padawan braid. Because they would have, he was sure of it.)

It had its advantages. Like now. He still found it hard to believe he'd been able to get in, with a Corellian accent that explained without words why this particular Padawan had never been seen before and a subtle current in the force saying _trust me, I'm harmless_ around him. Jedi were trained to resist mind tricks, but that wasn't one, just a nudge in the direction he wanted it to go. He rather suspected the Force had been helping him.

"_Where's your master? I'm sure you heard the warnings about leaving the Temple alone."_

_A faltering expression, his Force signature tinging with grief. "He - he's dead."_

_Sympathy. "I'm sorry. I suppose you left by some other door?"_

"_Yes."_

Terrifyingly easy. The Force must have helped: there was no way they would have let him through if it had given them a warning that he wasn't supposed to be there.

He was hurrying through the less used back ways of the Temple, heading towards one of the side doorways. There were many of them, though most beings that visited the Temple only knew about the main entrance, a few of the other major entrances, and the hangers. Not running: that would stand out, and he couldn't just vanish in the Force in case someone noticed, but hurrying.

This one, as he last knew, was guarded by two Temple Sentinels. They won't be all that on guard at the apparent approach of a Padawan, and a police car would get past the open space surrounding the Temple without the snipers hurling their lightsabers at it. And those snipers won't be able to see the door itself.

He had to stop his heart from pounding and giving him away as a pair of Jedi approached, coming down the corridor in the other direction. He couldn't run, or avoid them. That would look suspicious. And they'd notice suspicious, and notice_ him_ and his flimsy, flimsy disguise would be torn away. They turned the corner, talking quietly to each other, and he continued past the two, attempting to infuse his body language with _I need some space_ or something of the sort. Not too much though, or they'd stop and ask what was wrong, and they might be a pair of newish knights, not ones he really knew, but in anything other than passing he was taking a huge risk of being recognised. And he stopped his heart hammering, but he didn't have the attention to spare on stopping his palms from sweating or any of the other little things that could give him away, because he was not practiced at holding a false Force signature, and he was having to focus intently to keep it up.

They passed without incident, and he let out a slow breath once they were safely around the next corner.

He could feel the guards, now, almost muffled because of the false signature that was acting as a shield between him and them, but enough that he could tell there were more than he had anticipated. Had they increased the numbers somehow? Adding those not as well trained or those who should be resting?

He reached through the fragile not-quite-bond he had with Ahsoka, and sent a feeling of affirmation, then shed his robe and opened the door to the room between the doors where the sentinel guards would be waiting.

There was one already approaching to open the door for the seemingly innocuous Force signature, and Obi-Wan tossed him with an unarmed throw even as the other's step faltered, realizing who he was up against. The impact of the wall left him stunned, and Obi-Wan crouched down and found the right nerve clusters, knocking him out.

A moment later he straightened, and opened the door with a thought even as he sprang, pushed off the wall opposite the outside door, and flipped in the air, passing through it as it opened and smashing feet first into a startled sentinel guard, knocking her to the ground with what were quite possibly several broken ribs and grabbing her lightsaber pike to prevent telekinetic retaliation. He rolled to his feet and ignited it (faster than unhooking and igniting the one he was carrying on his belt,) barely in time to block the beam of light that would have severed his head from his shoulders at the hands of the third.

He'd taken his turn with the guarding of the Temple, like everyone else, though not in recent years. He was - had been - too famous a figure to go missing for a couple of months to take his turn, too valuable on the front lines and to public morale to take from the public eye. Still, he, like everyone, had had training on the theory of handling a lightsaber pike.

Most didn't practice with the weapon except when on assignment as a Temple Guard. The pike's ceremonial significance was the reason for its use, (that and the fact that if the Temple Guard were to use their normal lightsabers they might be recognised, which would rather defeat the point of submersing themselves in anonymous service). Unlike most, when he picked one up for the first time sometime after his Knighting, he had already been familiar with double bladed lightsabers. And he'd put a lot of time into training with it, not wanting to let unfamiliarity with the strengths and weaknesses of double bladed weapons catch him off guard again. (And to face and release the memories, which had jumped to the forefront of his mind, despite the time between that and Qui-Gon Jinn's death.) And unlike most, he had still done so when his rotation was over, if irregularly.

That training had helped him. Since then, he had faced many opponents with weapons (not necessarily lightsabers, like the energy staffs of some of the more specialized separatist droids, but weapons that could stand up to lightsabers) with double ends. He knew how they worked in combat, how to defend against one and how to use one, though had had little need for the latter. Until now.

All that gave him an edge over his opponent. He was still not particularly _good _with the weapon - his strikes were clumsy, unpractised and far more imprecise than his usual standard - but neither was his opponent, and Obi-Wan was raining blows down, not slowing down to unhook and ignite the lightsaber on his belt, driving them on the defensive so they didn't have time to think, didn't have time to send out a warning, not with them having to use a relatively unfamiliar weapon in what must appear to them to be deadly combat-

His opponent attempted to go on the offensive, but Obi-Wan refused to let them, and the police car drew up. He felt the spark of relief in the being's signature, and felt it morph into horror when they saw who emerged. That moment of distraction was all Obi-Wan needed to slice their weapon in half without the possibility that he might hit his opponent with the blade, then as the two halves of the pike fell from their hands, Obi-Wan swung the now deactivated hilt of his own pike at the guard's head.

They crumpled. Obi-Wan checked that they weren't too badly injured – yes, he'd have a headache when he woke, but it wouldn't be permanent. Force sensitivity was a boon in the health department - the Force would have healed it too completely for lasting damage, as long as he got a healing trance soon. Obi-wan took a moment to push him into one, then did the same for the sentinel with broken ribs. He straightened as Ahsoka and Ventress moved towards the fallen sentinels, stepping back to allow them access, ignoring the slightly scornful look Ventress gave him as she pulled the lightsaber pike from his hand with the Force. He raise an eyebrow mildly in return as it flew across and slapped into her hand, and saw Ahsoka snort slightly at the byplay. Ventress just shook her head, nose wrinkling as though she'd just smelled something nasty. "Stick to normal lightsabers," she advised. "_That"_ the word was almost spat, "was _painful _to watch."

Obi-Wan winced slightly, pressing his lips together to avoid retorting. He might not be anywhere near her proficiency with the weapon type and, granted, he'd never made contingencies for fighting another of the same weapon with a pike, but he wasn't _that_ bad wi-

It was only the glint he caught out of the corner of his eye that saved him.

War trained reflexes threw him to the ground, rolling away from the trajectory of the spinning lightsaber, fractions of a second before it would have impaled him. His lightsaber leapt from his belt to his hand without conscious thought, activating and slicing through the hilt before its owner could pick it up telekinetically and attack him again, or worse, one of his companions.

The blue light winked out, and Obi-Wan mentally apologized for the destruction even as he scanned the skyline. Nothing.

He rolled to his feet and ran inside, slamming the door behind them. The two were already pulling the robes they had stripped off the unconscious bodies of the less injured guards over their normal attire. Too large, but passable. Hopefully. Ventress activated the pike and gave it an experimental twirl. "I thought you said this way they wouldn't be able to see the door so close to the wall?" she sneered the words at him.

"They must have moved the snipers," was his terse reply, just as the wailing alarm he never thought he'd hear used for real went off.

_Seriously? "Intruder" I could have coped with, but _"_Sith invasion"?_

Shaking off the surreal sense of amusement - alarming the Council like this was _not_ a good thing - he pulled on his robe again and headed down the hall. Ahsoka was glancing jumpily around as she followed, the hood slightly tight over her horns. "So much for stealth," she muttered.

"Oh, cheer up," Ventress snarled back almost amicably. "At least now they won't find a pair of Sentinels running through the halls odd."

"I'll shadow," Obi-Wan offered, waiting a moment as they started to run in the direction he could feel the Force tugging them, then dashing after the pair. Three people together with their face's concealed would be a bit obvious.

_Force, let us get there in time…_

**A.N. Apologies for the delay in posting. My internet connection was playing up.**

**On another note, seriously, cool-looking guards of the Jedi Temple that carry lightsaber pikes and **_**never get in a battle?**_** And starwars dot com, which names them the Jedi Temple Guard, describes them as "plucked from the ranks of the Jedi as part of a Knight's ongoing commitment to the Order," so I've concluded that the reason they never use the lightsaber pikes is that they haven't trained with them as much as they would have with their normal lightsabers, and so aren't as good with them, or as confident. The explanation amuses me, if nothing else. ;)**

**Next Chapter: Three POV's. (Barriss, Mace and Ahsoka.) And the answer to whether the bomb will go off or not.**


	26. Collision

Chapter 26: Collision

Barriss tucked the two red lightsabers on her belt at the small of her back with the small packet of explosives, under her cloak, before she left for the room of a thousand fountains. Foolhardy? Maybe. But if they found her with the explosives, they would hardly need the additional evidence. In a way, she was safer keeping them on her person than she would be if she left them in her room, unguarded. Not that it really mattered now, but at least this way, she'd know if someone discovered them.

Perfectly sensible.

She'd claimed an errand when her Master - Luminara, she'd asked Barriss to call her by name now she was Knighted - attempted to catch up with her earlier, saying they could do so later, once Luminara had got some rest. After all, she was just back from the front, she must be tired. And Barriss had had an errand: picking up the explosives.

Not nano droids this time, and she had to admit she felt relief at that. Nano droids had been necessary in the first bombing to make sure Jakar was none the wiser, but their use had given her nightmares, the night after the hanger blew up. She'd woken up as the hands clamped over her face in an attempt to block anything from getting in fell limp from lack of oxygen, automatically taking gasps of air even as she desperately tried to stop herself, lift her arms so she could claw away the _things_ that were wriggling their way inside her, controlling her, exploding until she was just a smear of gore like she'd seen too many times with the clones after battles - And then she'd realised she was in her room at the Temple, that there were no nano droids crawling under her skin, no brain worms sliding up her nose to take control of her.

She'd never got the chance to catch up with Luminara. Before Barriss' excuses could begin to run out, the older mirialan had been called out urgently by the Council. Something to do with the search, judging by the quick message that had been sent to Barriss' comm a few minutes before. Autopsy, Barriss supposed. Ahsoka and Kenobi must have been caught and killed.

No announcement had been made yet, though, and there were a few suspicious looks directed her way as she traversed the halls. That was now normal now, she reminded herself with slight satisfaction of a job well done, fear was now a normal part of the Order. Especially since Kenobi had broken Ahsoka out, and it had become popular opinion that really _anyone_ could be a traitor.

She wondered if that act redeemed Kenobi.

No, one right act couldn't redeem all the Darkness a Council member would have been party to over the last year. But she appreciated that he had made the effort. It was more than anyone else had done. And it had opened some Jedi's eyes to how deep-rooted the corruption of the order was.

She still rather hated him for causing Ahsoka so much trouble, creating associations in the Jedi Council's minds between her togruta friend and the Sith, though. That, and messing up her grieving. But the Force had judged him now. It was enough. It _had_ to be enough.

The room was slightly overgrown, the Jedi who had tended it too busy away fighting or being dead to care for it. She'd spent a lot of time there recently, attempting to infuse some order back into the overgrown wildness of the flower beds. She hadn't nearly succeeded, and the sight of them now filled her with disgust that she was careful not to show on her face or in the Force as she passed Yoda leading a group of younglings in meditation.

She disappeared from sight as she entered the tangle of hedges near them, circling around until she was almost beside Yoda, who shouldn't have allowed all of this to happen, and the youngling's who's ears he was filling with lies. _Peacekeepers._

A bitter smile wanted to edge its way onto her face, but she didn't have the energy. Instead, she just made sure that she seemed further away that she really was, and pulled the explosives out, moulding them into shape. She'd learned how to shape explosives, because of the war.

They'd regret that, she promised herself.

She wouldn't be able to leave them. The danger the explosives represented would be clear to Yoda should she move away, her shadow of a concealed Force signature no longer hiding the small, deadly package under its cloak.

Eveliina would be furious with her. Barriss didn't particularly care. It had been a split second decision upon hearing her Master had been called out: if Ahsoka was dead, safe from the Jedi's darkness, then she could show the Jedi just how far they had fallen. The deception was no longer needed.

Then the alarms went off.

Her hands faltered for a moment. What? The only ones that the Council would set that alarm off over were Kenobi and Ahsoka, but-

Logic crystallized in her mind from the pieces of shattered belief. She'd assumed. Ahsoka and Kenobi must have survived, Master had been called out to tend the wounded Jedi. Unbidden, a shiver of pride in her friend ran through her. It was awfully inconvenient, but defeated Jedi were a good thing. Maybe they were dead, even. Ahsoka probably wouldn't have, but Kenobi had been a Council member, and if she'd realised anything these last few days, it was just how little compunction Council members had about turning on those they had fought beside.

_So, they found out it was today_, she mused, continuing her work calmly, methodically. Dependable Barriss, not at all concerned that the Sith were attacking the Temple. She knew they weren't. _This still works. Everyone will blame the explosion on them initially - and it'll kill more, the drill for this alarm was never altered from the original when they reinstated it after Kenobi returned from Naboo, everyone will be gathering in a few central places - and then, once the "invasion" is over and they're dead, they'll realise it was me._

She did smile, then. It was utterly devoid of anything but grim anticipation.

* * *

Mace Windu froze at the snipers' report as Yoda remotely sounded the alarm, it all suddenly crashing together in his head. The three Council Masters had been left alive: that would draw their backup in the Temple out to retrieve and protect them, leaving the Temple less guarded. There were barely any fighters here, with the war, and those that were were mostly the wounded or the inexperienced, and neither of those would be able to take on a Jedi Master fallen to the Dark side.

Shouting at Luminara Unduli to retrieve the injured Masters by herself and not return until she was contacted with an all clear, he raced through the Temple, cursing himself for not seeing it. So this was the reason the Sith had left them alive - and to think he'd thought - he'd _hoped_ -

He cut off that line of thought with brutal swiftness, running through the drill for this alarm in his head. Everyone would gather in the nearest pre-selected large room (they were scattered about the Temple, places which had been built to withstand an attack of the kind that had levelled the Jedi Temple that had stood here before this one, since it had been impossible to build the whole Temple to that standard), which should only take minutes considering these were Jedi with Force speed at their disposal, and defend them.

He strained his senses, searching for a hint, just a whisper that would let him know where the threats were, relying on that to sense any Jedi near him, rounding a corner and almost crashing into a pair of Temple Guard Sentinels. They jumped aside at the last second, and he skidded to a stop as they kept on running, his eyes narrowing rapidly. Sentinels with no Force signatures…

They'd taken out some sentinels at their entry point, the sniper had reported. His eyes flew wide and he drew his lightsaber, barking "Halt!"

A body barrelled into him from behind, flattening him, and he rolled his feet to see another figure in a Jedi robe do the same between him and the fallen padawan and Sith Assassin, flinging back the hood to reveal none other than Kenobi himself. "Go! I'll hold him."

The two hesitated, before tearing off down the corridor. Mace reignited the purple 'saber he had barely managed to avoid impaling himself on in the fall, hoping, _hoping_ that the others would be able to deal with them. At least he had the main threat right here. "Kenobi."

The Sith sighed, sounding faintly exasperated. "I don't suppose we could talk about this?"

_Talk_ to the being who had the audacity to wear the face of his friend, who would have killed Plo and Ki-Adi and Kit and Saesee were it not for an accident of timing and had this plot to invade the Temple not required them to be left alive? "No," Mace said flatly, the hint of a snarl curling his upper lip, slipping into the Vaapad ready stance, the Force becoming almost visible around him as he channelled his rage at this being who looked like Obi-Wan but could be nothing other than Obi-Wan's murderer. He saw the Sith swallow.

"Right." The being ignited the lightsaber in its hand. "And I don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you I'm not a Sith, and that there is a bomb about to go off in this Temple at any moment."

"I wouldn't put the second past you," Mace replied darkly, feeling his insides go cold at the thought. "You've show yourself capable."

Something flashed across the Sith's face, before it closed off, and it stepped back into the personalised Soresu stance Obi-Wan had favoured, the blade held up at his forehead instead of across his torso. "I see."

A look passed between them. It was a look that didn't contain any sentiments, simply a recognition that neither was going to back down from this, neither was going to surrender - and that only one of them was going to walk away from this fight.

Then Mace attacked.

* * *

Ahsoka pounded through the empty hallways, Ventress hot on her heels, the wailing of the alarm almost unbearably loud as she whispered pleas to the Force to let Obi-Wan survive in her mind. She got nothing in return. No soft reassurance, no mournful brush informing her that her grand-Master was going to come home in death, just…nothing.

Ahsoka skidded to a stop. "She's in there."

`There` was the Room of a Thousand Fountains, where they could both feel several hundred apprehensive Force presences.

"I see." Ventress tore off the robes, her face pinched. Ahsoka's mouth dropped open behind her mask.

"What are you-"

"They'll know who we are," Ventress interrupted her. "And I prefer to fight without ridiculous costumes blocking my peripheral vision."

Ahsoka wondered whether the blocking peripheral vision was something symbolic to demonstrate that the Sentinel guards needed the Force more than their eyes, and relied on the more accurate of the two as she attempted to decide how much Ventress was insulting Jedi tradition. She decided to ignore it, because, well…she'd thought the same thing on the way here. Why were these outfits still used?

She pulled off her own disguise. It had got them there, and no one they'd passed but Master Windu had realised. "Oh, fine." Beat. "Are we just going to charge in there?"

Ventress' smile was all teeth. "Why not?"

Why not indeed. She had done similar things with Anakin, in the past. Quite often, in fact, if in slightly different situations. Anakin was capable of sneaking around, but far preferred direct tactics. Ahsoka clipped the pike to her belt and took her saber and shoto in hand. (She probably wouldn't _use_ her left arm that much, but it wouldn't be good to be visibly injured.)

In answer, she used a Force push to blow the doors open and sprinted in, most definitely _not_ gulping as a forest of lightsabers ignited as they sprinted past, heading for the place where she could sense Barriss - Obi-Wan's Force techniques combined with her former friendship enough to let her get an idea of where Barriss was, the Force doing the rest. She Force-shoved a path clear through the crowd, blocking a few thrown lightsabers and hoping the deflected blades didn't hit anyone. A Knight with pink, recent scar on his cranium limped into her way, and she skidded under his guard on her knees, springing to her feet as soon as she was past. Ventress had blocked his strike and sent the man flying, and suddenly they halted, faced with a small green troll with a _very _displeased look on his face.

Ventress swore loudly. There were several gasps from the children that various Masters, their faces drained of colour or their species equivalent, were ushering away deeper into the throng of Jedi that were recovering rapidly from the surprise of them charging past instead of at them and were now surrounding Ahsoka and Ventress - though none approached, an invisible barrier keeping them back from the space where Ahsoka, Ventress and Yoda stood. Ahsoka could feel the seconds slipping, a whisper that every moment wasted might be one too many, adrenalin superseding fear and any other emotion that she might have otherwise felt.

"Tano, your lightsaber."

Ventress voice was strained as she dropped the pike she'd been holding in her left, it deactivating as it hit the floor with a clatter. Instantly realizing with no little astonishment what Ventress was doing, Ahsoka handed it to her, replacing it with her shoto and taking the pike she had clipped to her belt in her off hand.

"Get her quickly," Ventress snarled, then attacked with both blades and danced out of the way of the retaliating blows as Ahsoka leapt high in the air with the Force, soaring over a multitude of heads to alarmed shouts and landing at the edge of the group of Jedi. Dodging the lightsabers hurled her way, following the Force, she slashed with all her strength through a hedge (a _hedge?!_ The Force wanted her to destroy a _hedge?_) with her shoto and one end of the pike -

Revealing Barriss Offee and a small explosive device that she was setting the timer of.

Everything slowed.

Barriss looked up, her eyes widening, face twisting, a feral scream of rage and grief tearing itself from the mirialan's throat as she moved with lightning speed while everyone turned towards or stared at her, hurling the device straight at Ahsoka and there was a small green blur and an explosion of noise. Then nothing.

…The galaxy was ringing.

Ahsoka forced her eyes to open again, finding herself slumped on the floor, face down with her arms over her montrails.

The explosives had shot up into the air, veering off their course, going off above the crowd, she realised after a moment of fuzziness, though the thunder of the explosion echoing in her head. Yoda. It had been Yoda to divert it.

Training kicked in. Assessment. She seemed to have escaped serious internal injury from the shockwave, and was relatively uninjured compared to what was generally accepted as the standard for someone in the primary or secondary blast zone of an explosion, though she felt like a AT-TE walker had stepped on her, her shoulder had been jolted and was complaining fiercely, and her head _hurt _from the noise. Moving made her head worse, she quickly discovered, but she forced herself up anyway, rolling unsteadily to her feet, ignored in the chaos.

There were people down. It didn't _look_ like there were dead, like she and everyone near her would have been, but those closest to the blast had burns, and quite a few looked unconscious, healers kneeling among them, their mouths and hand moving urgently but no sound coming out.

A flash of red caught her eye, and she shook off the lingering haziness as she saw Ventress, blue and green lightsabers in hand, clashing up against Barriss.

_It __was__ Barriss._

She'd known. She'd _known._ Since Obi-Wan and Ventress forced it out of the terrorist leader.

She'd _known_.

They looked to have only just started to fight, still testing the others reflexes and getting a feel for a skilled opponent.

The Knights that had been further away from the explosion finally got their act together and started to surround the pair in a wide circle, lightsabers out, locking both combatants in. Ahsoka started to thread her way through them, shoto gripped tightly in her right hand.

Would they let Ventress out? She realised with a bit of a start that she was actually rather worried about that. Ventress wasn't doing badly, the Jedi around them had all seen what was actually happening even if a large number of them still looked confused. As she scanned the crowd she caught a glimpse of Yoda getting to his feet, looking singed and battered and the most shocked she'd ever seen him. It was hard not to feel a small thrill of vindication, though it was quickly eclipsed by shock and cold fear as he doubled over, coughing up something green that might have been blood.

He'd taken the shockwave. And even Yoda couldn't deliberately absorb a large portion of that without being injured.

Her fist clenched tighter around her shoto against the stinging in her eyes.

Some of the Jedi backed warily away from her as she went, but she didn't let herself focus on it, directing her attention to the fight. Ventress was doing fine. Ahsoka, on the other hand, was injured and deprived of her favoured weapon, but she wanted to be there. She _had_ to be there.

She could still fight. Not up to her normal standard, but she could fight. So she watched for the opening she could use to join in.

**A.N. Just a few more chapters to go… ;D**

**Next Chapter: The outcome of the fights.**


	27. Confrontation

Chapter 27: Confrontation

Obi-Wan was not certain he would win.

Quite the opposite really: he had been pretty certain he would lose, and had been startled to find himself holding his own against Mace.

Tactical sense dictated he retreat in the direction of his allies, and while the presence of a large amount of Jedi there might have deterred him if he really had time to think about it, he _hadn't_ had that time. And despite everything, even the Council Master currently trying very hard to kill him, he couldn't bring himself to think of the Jedi as enemies. Misguided opponents, yes. But not enemies.

He parried all the strikes, subtly turning the blade aside _just_ enough or outright blocking depending on the strike, retreating back as was his way, fighting not to let Mace herd him in any direction but the one he wanted to be going in.

Purple clashed against yellow, and he could feel the scar in the metal, left by a lightsaber, pressing against his palms through the gloves as the sleeves of his robe fell to his elbows with the constant movement. He would have preferred to take it off before starting - unlike Mace, who regularly trained in his robe, he was more comfortable without the extra material in saber to saber combat.

He wasn't sure he could win. But he could survive, long enough to let Ahsoka and Ventress expose Barriss Offee and prove Ahsoka had _not_ been the one to blame, and really, that was winning even if he lost this fight, because the _goal_ had been accomplished.

Even if the very real possibility that Mace might kill him, and the knowledge that his friend thought he'd turned and joined the _Sith_, cut his heart to shreds. That wasn't the point.

He flipped backwards, avoiding a slash that would have cut off both legs and then blocking another strike in mid-air and barely avoiding fumbling the landing as he twisted away from the lethal purple blade. _Focus!_

Mace's eyes bored into him, unrelenting.

Well, he'd made the effort to tell him.

The Jedi Master stalked forward, and Obi-Wan hastily retreated some more past a side passage he was sure Mace would have attempted to force him down, then let him catch up. He was controlling the flow of the fight.

And, from the scowl he was sporting, Mace knew it.

* * *

Ahsoka's opening came as Barriss left her back open, focusing only on Ventress and assuming that no one would dare come within range of the four slashing lightsabers. She ducked forward, right behind her former friend, and pressed the one of the emitters of the pike against her back, the shoto's blade hovering less than a centimetre from the back of the mirialan's neck. "Drop them."

The air around Barriss was almost vibrating with tension as she stilled. "Going to kill me?"

For all the bitterness in it, her voice was strangely soft.

Ventress grabbed the lightsabers from Barriss' unresisting hands and checked them over for any damage, ignited them, smirked at the way the surrounding Jedi tensed and tightened their grip on their own lightsabers, then deactivated them and clipped them back to her hips with a reverent air that she tried to conceal. Ahsoka shifted the shoto so its blade was under Barriss' chin, digging in the pike as a reminder to keep still as she did so.

Barriss turned her head slightly. "Well?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Ahsoka shook her own head, then winced and stopped as the ringing from the explosion increased again at the movement. That would be revenge. "Why?"

She'd meant to demand it, but it came out weak, a quiet croak. She felt more than saw Barriss' sneer.

"You don't see it, do you?" She let out a sudden, hysterical laugh. "The Jedi are decaying, that's why! Guardians of peace and justice - we've become our own enemy, an army fighting _for_ the Dark side, not against it!" She was almost shouting now, and her gaze swept around the Jedi gathered there. "Look how easy it was to deceive you! You didn't even try to look deeper, you just threw out an innocent because it was easier!" She found Yoda in the crowd, slowly making his way to the front, leaning heavily on his gimmer stick, and she almost took a step forward before aborting the movement into a twitch that caused a slight sizzling sound as her neck brushed against the blade. "Jedi are supposed to do what's _right_! Not what's easy! I've fallen, we've _all _fallen, the only way I could get the Council's attention was violence! That - that's all the Council believe in."

The last sentence was almost a sob. Ahsoka swallowed, but didn't dare slacken her grip.

"_Not_ the case that is, young one." Yoda. Not taking her eyes off her captive, Ahsoka focused past the fading ringing, taking note of injured Jedi being quickly triaged by the healers, of the uncertain shifting about in the crowd encircling them, of Ventress having retreated away from Barriss, watching events unfold with an inscrutable gaze.

The spike of bitterness in the Force from Barriss caused several of the less well shielded Jedi to take an involuntary step back. "The war. The Clones.

The first response to any situation is to send in more troops, or to discard the problem instead of dealing with it. Never negotiation. Never listening to the Will of the Force."

Ahsoka's mouth dropped open. "Was it the Will of the Force that you bombed the Temple murdered Turmond and framed me!?" she exclaimed furiously, ignoring the gasps that her statement caused. Barriss looked down for a moment, then twisted around to look at Ahsoka, reckless defiance blazing in her eyes, a fire far too hot to sustain that was consuming everything in in her.

"That was me. I wanted to get the council's attention, and the only way to do _that_ was to inconvenience their _war machine_." The last words were spat out, and for a moment it looked like she would start ranting again, but she paused and took a breath before carrying on. "Getting you out of the way, out of the _Jedi,_ was a bonus. Surely you can see it Ahsoka. Look at how they treated you if you need an example!"

And she didn't really have an answer to that. Thankfully, Ventress spared her from having to come up with one by speaking, her voice unusually neutral. "If what you say is true, then why did one of the Council members you so despise risk everything to find out the truth?"

"One of twelve," Barriss sneered back, then paused and added cynically, "Where is Kenobi? Shouldn't he be with you, if he's so devoted to actually doing some good?"

"We ran into an obstacle named Mace Windu on the way here," Ventress drawled, and Ahsoka wondered whether she was really that unconcerned or if she was just hiding her worry. She herself had been attempting - surprisingly successfully, with all the distractions - to not think about the danger Obi-Wan was in.

Eyes widened across those in earshot, along with some muttered curses as the severity and precariousness of the situation sank in. Barriss met Ahsoka's eyes mockingly, as if to say, _And they say they don't believe in violence_, but Ahsoka ignored it, thinking back frantically. She hadn't felt Obi-Wan's - or Master Windu's - death echoing through the Force, but she'd been unconscious briefly from the explosion (_no, don't think that, I would have known when I woke up, surely_) and it could happen at any moment-

A small green blur shot out of the room, the quiet clatter of Yoda's gimmer stick hitting the floor breaking the stillness.

She hadn't even known Yoda could run, never mind that fast.

Everything exploded into action: yells from the healers for volunteers to carry the wounded, a shout to call off the alarm, the crowd surging into action. Grabbing the nearest knight as they ran past, Ahsoka order them to "keep her here and give her to the Sentinels!" and dashed away before they could yell at her for being so presumptuous as to give them orders when she was only a civilian, and fugitive.

A hand caught her wrist as she barged through the crowd, and she let out a startled gasp at the pain from her shoulder as she lashed out with her foot, only to have it dodged. "Tano!"

Oops. She stared at Ventress impatiently. The ex Sith pressed Obi-Wan's lightsaber into her palm, exchanging it for the pike. "Give this back. I'm going to get out before they think to stop me."

Ahsoka nodded, taking the lightsaber, wondering if she should say something. Ventress appeared to be wondering the same, then hissed, "The Sith is in Palpatine's office, I don't know who. And Offee had a point: last I heard from Dooku they were going to corrupt the Jedi Order with the war and turn them into the new Sith brotherhood." Ahsoka gaped at her as the ex Sith drew herself up and gave her a curt nod before vanishing into the flow of people as Ahsoka resumed her sprint towards where she could now feel Obi-Wan, and Windu, and the violent energy of two powerful force wielders clashing.

At least Obi-Wan was still alive…

* * *

Mace drove the Sith backward to start with, but it didn't take long for it to find it's rhythm: even as Tano and Ventress' running footsteps faded away the man was gracefully flowing backwards, evading and countering strikes. Had he not been familiar with the man, this would have surprised him. Sith were aggressive, fuelled by their hatred, and this caused them to fight aggressively for the most part.

He'd known Obi-Wan, though. And he knew quite a bit about Obi-Wan's fighting style.

Obi-Wan Kenobi had been a varied fighter, but his biggest advantage, and thus the biggest advantage this _thing_ had, was that he always survived: his mastery of Soresu. The Sith was using it now, as it retreated steadily down the wide, empty corridor, fending off the unpredictable Vaapad.

To finish the Sith he would have to break that.

Very well.

Mace let loose, sinking deeper into Vaapad, allowing the trill of the fight and the rage he felt at this attack on the Temple to drive him forward, powering his blows. Obi-Wan's face (except it wasn't Obi-Wan) was set like stone, his yellow lightsaber (where had he got that?) blurring, deflecting and blocking as the Sith himself twisted away from every blow. The longer the fight went on, the more Mace began to get a sinking feeling that his enemy was drawing him backwards.

When the Sith broke away and retreated past a corridor that led away from the fountain room where so many of the Jedi were now gathered, he knew that feeling had been right.

Why would the Sith do that, though? The distinct sense of _missing something,_ of something _not being right_ was tugging at his mind again, knotting in his gut. A surge of startled emotion rolled through the Force from the fountain room, and he could only spare a moment to hope that things were under control there before he had to focus on the enemy in front of him. The Sith's allies were there, judging by what he'd just felt, but so were Mace's, and he had a large amount _more_ than his opponent. This was the Jedi Temple.

Then a muffled _boom_ came from the direction they were headed, and pain echoed horribly through the Force.

…_a bomb about to go off in this Temple…_

The faintest expression of - something - flickered on the familiar face in front of him, and would have gone unnoticed had Mace not been searching for any tell, any visible emotion.

And then the Sith became visible in the Force, as though he'd just decided to stop shielding his signature. The strain on the man's face supported that, but Mace knew otherwise: the signature felt like _Obi-Wan Kenobi,_ like the Council member they had all thought the man was only days ago, just as when Mace had come across him in the corridor he had felt like a Padawan, and then nothing at all as he disappeared from the Force, shielding himself.

What was the meaning of this? This wasn't Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, he _knew_ that, and the Sith knew that he knew and would not be fooled by the deception. Expending the effort it would take to fabricate the deception was pointless - was the thing expecting the familiarity to cause him to hesitate? A flare of rage shot through him. For the Sith to attempt to use Mace's destroyed friend like that…

"Mace-" It started to talk, but Mace attacked again, capitalising on the fact that the Sith's energy would drain faster with the additional strain, leaving them both too short of breath for words to speak as lightsabers clashed again and again, the Sith sometimes blocking outright rather than deflecting, Mace not giving it the opportunity to do the latter, the impacts jarring their arms.

Obi-Wan had been good, and so the Sith was good, but it was tiring, just as Mace had predicted. Faster, even, but then who knew how much rest it'd gotten these last few days. It'd certainly done a lot of running around, and while Mace had done a lot of work, it was war work like repositioning the Sentinels and moving troops, not physical exercise. It wouldn't have mattered against an opponent with even slightly lesser skill. Its defence was near perfect, as expected from a Master of Soresu - but Mace could see that, as the fight wore on, it was less so than Obi-Wan's normal standard. And the Sith wisely didn't dare switch to a style that it was not a Master of, or Ataru, Obi-Wan's other mastered form, which had less defensive capabilities. It would know that Mace was well equipped to defend against and take advantage of Ataru moves.

Mace refused to give it an opening to attack. The Sith wanted to move towards the fountain room, then fine. Mace would let it: it was only blasting itself in the foot with that move. Even Kenobi couldn't have turned that to his advantage: this dark incarnation of him wouldn't be able to either.

He wished the Force would speak.

Shaking off the uncharacteristically plaintive thought, he let the Sith take the fight backwards, looking for an opening. It would appear soon, he knew.

It drop parried, twisted, blocked -

_There_.

Mace thrust straight, taking advantage of the stutter in the rhythmic defence. The Sith brought its own saber down, deflecting the blade away from its heart -

The purple blade sank deep into the Sith's body, skewering it through its lower abdomen, slightly to one side. Shock bloomed on the being's face as it swayed, one hand going to the hole in its body as Mace pulled his saber out and prepared for the next thrust through the heart, pausing as its knees gave out from under it. A pained gasp was drawn from it as those knees thudded to the floor, jostling its wound, it almost doubling over. He stabbed down with fierce triumph and relief thrumming through him, scoring a mark in the floor as the Sith batted it aside one handed, with desperate strength, so Mace swept sideways-

"Stop!"

Mace faltered.

Yoda's voice reached into his memories of his years as the Grandmasters Padawan, and he obeyed instinctively, pulling back the effort he had put into the blow, redirecting it over the Sith's head, unable to stop the momentum entirely.

The small green Jedi Master skidded to a halt, beside Kenobi, breathing harshly but talking rapidly. "Knight Offee it was, confessed she did when exposed setting up another bomb she was by Tano and Ventress."

What?

Mace felt like his entire world had just crashed down on his head. But…that meant…

"Innocent, they are," Yoda whispered, then doubled over coughing, green splattering the floor. He'd aggravated some injury running here, to deliver those condemning words that might as well have been shouted in Mace's ears, he realised numbly, dropping down, catching his former master as he wavered. Obi-Wan Kenobi met his eyes, and Mace remembered his words from the start of the fight. _I don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you I'm not a Sith, and that there is a bomb about to go off in this Temple at any moment._

He'd been telling the truth. And the Force signature that he could feel, bright and sharp with pain, was not a deception.

Feeling numb, scoured inside and hollowed out by the knowledge and all its implications, he reached out with the Force, steadying Obi-Wan as he struggled to stay upright. Obi-wan sagged into it. _What have we done? What have __I__ done?_

Clouded blue eyes met his for a moment, and there were so many things that needed said, so many things that he wasn't even sure how to put into words, all conveyed somehow in the space of that glance as the lightsaber fell from Obi-Wan's hand as his eyes rolled back and he went limp, and for a moment Mace couldn't breathe before he realised that Obi-Wan was still breathing, and carefully lowered him to the floor, his heart sinking. Yoda clutched at his chest, more coughs wracking his small frame.

"Obi-Wan!"

It was Tano. She turned into the corridor just in time to see Obi-Wan fall limp. For a moment she seemed to have been punched in the gut, all the air going out of her, eyes widening, lips parting in a silent denial, before she exploded into action again, sprinting to them, shouldering Mace out of the way, hand frantically reaching for his forehead to sense just how badly he was injured.

And there were Jedi, and healers taking Yoda and Obi-Wan, throwing around phrases like "gone into shock" and "collapsed lung" and leaving him kneeling on the floor, his lightsaber lying beside him, feeling like the gazes of all the Jedi in the hall were boring into his back as he stared at a scorch mark and a splatter of green blood.

**A.N. For anyone who's wondering just where Ventress' revelation to Ahsoka came from: in the RotS novelisation Dooku does think that the Sith will be turning the Jedi Order into a new Brotherhood of the Sith, so I've taken artistic licence to say that Ventress also knows about that plan, since in TCW she was Dooku's apprentice for a while. :D**

**And at risk of breaking suspense - the climax is over, and you've all put up with my habit of cliffhangers at the end of chapters throughout the rest of the story - the healers got to Obi-Wan and Yoda in time.**

**Next Chapter: Is the second or third last post, in which Mace does his best to pull himself together by sorting out the Temple, and Anakin is not impressed.**


	28. Aftermath

Chapter 28: Aftermath

It had not taken long to sedate Offee and see her taken into Jedi custody and to get the initial reports on the injured. After that, Mace set off for the nearest place he could switch off the alarm blaring through the Temple.

Someone evidently got to it before him, as it fell silent before he was even halfway there. Mace stopped and stood in the hallway for a moment, then forced his heavy limbs to move again, this time in the direction of the Communications hub.

There were still a skeleton crew there to defend it and keep things in connection with each other. One look at his face was enough to cause them to clear a path through to a console.

He brought up Saesee, Ki-Adi, Kit and Luminara's comlinks, then set it to conference. Two blue figures flickered into existence in front of him a moment later, both looking openly worried.

"What happened?"

Saesee was the one who had spoken. Mace swallowed, suddenly remembering that Luminara was Offee's former master. "The three of them got into the Temple. It turns out that Tano was innocent; set up like she claimed. Kenobi was helping her because of this, I have yet to ascertain where Ventress comes into it." There was shock there now, replacing the worry. He closed his eyes for a moment. "The person who was behind the bomb in the hanger - and the one which just went off - was Barriss Offee."

"What?"

It was barely a whisper. Luminara's eyes were wide, staring into Mace's as though she would find in them that this wasn't happening, it was a terrible joke or a bad dream.

But it wasn't.

"I'm sorry."

It was nowhere near enough, and all he could offer her.

He returned to the events he was filling them in on, resisting the urge to clench and unclench his fists helplessly. "Ventress disappeared again, Tano has sustained some injuries, and Kenobi was seriously injured." Shocked, betrayed blue eyes stared at him in his mind. "As was Master Yoda. There were some fatalities. Return to the Temple."

"We're close by," Luminara said, pulling herself together, and they all pretended not to hear the unsteadiness in her voice. "Master Fisto and Master Mundi are in healing trances."

He nodded, and they cut the transmission. Mace turned around, seeing the pale faces of the skeleton crew of Jedi. They looked like they had been punched in the gut, like Tano had. "Get me a connection with Knight Skywalker."

While he waited for Skywalker to call back, he sat down. After a moment, he dropped his head into his hands.

* * *

Anakin Skywalker had not had much time to worry over what was happening on Coruscant, as the Separatists had chosen that moment to attack, and all his concentration had to be with his fighter and the battle or else risk him and artoo and the clones under his command.

Then the pain had hit.

He knew, instantly, that it was coming though one of his bonds, and had barely managed to avoid being blown to pieces by the vulture droids on his tail as he doubled over inside his cockpit, nerves on fire with pain that wasn't his. Forced to make an emergency retreat to the cruiser, he managed to tell Yularan to he was coming in, and to hand over his squad of fighters to their normal leader in a voice interrupted by coughs caused by the fumes filling the small space as his damaged starfighter wobbled into the hanger. He had a vague memory of a clone medic's worried face looming over him before he passed out.

He woke a few moments later, on a stretcher being carried to the medbay. "Let me up I," cough "I've got to get to the bridge."

A clone medic pushed him back down. "With all due respect sir, you just passed out from noxious fumes, we need to check you over."

He'd held his breath for most of it, breathing only to give Yularan his command. "It wasn't the fumes that caused me to pass out."

"Sir?" he could hear the worry in the man's voice. "What-"

"Jedi thing. Something just happened, some-" cough "something bad. I need to get to the bridge."

Implacably, the medic folded his arms. "You're coming with us and getting scanned first."

Realising it was the best he was going to get, Anakin sank down. It was only because the medics in the 501st were used to him demanding to be up when they believed he should be in a bed that he'd got away with that much: they knew he would just sneak out at the first chance, so they enabled him to do whatever it was with the least amount of strain.

Though, for some reason they never let him get into his starfighter.

Sure enough, there was not that much actual damage to his lungs, and most of it would heal naturally. After promising that he'd do a healing trance the next time he got a chance and striding out of the medic's line of sight Anakin abandoned dignity and drew on the Force to run to the bridge as fast as he could.

Yularan glanced away from the battle for a moment. "Shouldn't you be-"

"I'm fine," he snapped, then realised how much that sounded like Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan never admitted when he was injured, never liked getting treated for it.

It had been Obi-Wan or Ahsoka that the pain had come from.

"Is there any news from Coruscant?" he asked the comms officer far more calmly than he felt. Something had happened, something had hurt them, and he would be willing to bet that the something that had hurt them had been the Jedi Order.

Why did he want to be a Jedi again?

Looking around, he knew the answer. His people were here, the 501st, the crews of the three ships currently spread across the planet painstakingly taking one bit after another back from the separatists. What would happen to them, if he wasn't there, if they were put under the command of someone who didn't care as much as him, who wasn't able to protect them as he could?

"Nothing sir," the lieutenant answered, then frowned as a second later, a light started to blink. "No, wait - priority call from a member of the Jedi Council incoming."

His heart lurched. A snake of fear wrapped around him, squeezing until it felt like he couldn't breath. He heard a voice that might have been his telling her to put it through to his commlink, realised his footsteps were carrying him to a small side room off the bridge.

A moment later, a hologram of Mace Windu flickered to life above his wrist.

The Jedi Master had recently been in a lightsaber fight. There were scorch marks on his robe that could only have come from a light saber, and his head still gleamed with sweat, suggesting intense exertion. Rage started to bubble in the pit of his gut. "What happened?"

Windu sighed, the sound heavy and very tired. "Kenobi and Tano - and Ventress - broke into the Temple."

For a moment Anakin stood silently, buffeted by conflicting emotions._ Breaking into the _Temple?! _Didn't know you had it in you Master._ _Wait, Ventress? But Ahsoka said she was behind it…what went wrong, something went wrong, I should have been there - _Windu continued speaking.

"It turns out Knight Barriss Offee was behind the first bomb. The break in substantially lessened the damage that would have been done by the second, though it still went off, and there were some fatalities."

It wasn't Ventress?

"What happened to them?" He demanded, because he didn't care about random Jedi deaths, not when he had felt either his Padawan or his Master in agony. "What happened to Obi-Wan and Ahsoka!?" He saw Windu's lips narrow in disapproval and didn't give a-.

"Ventress disappeared again. Tano is a bit battered from the explosion," the air seemed to recede from around Anakin, as though vacuum had sucked it out of his body, "but mostly fine."

Obi-Wan. It had been Obi-Wan he felt.

"Kenobi is in the Healers care."

Lightsaber battle. Healers. Pain in his gut. "What did you do?"

Windu's eyes narrowed. The bubbling in Anakin's gut exploded. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!"

"I defended the Temple from a perceived threat," was the calm, stiff response. It only enraged Anakin more.

"There wouldn't have been a `perceived threat` if you'd investigated in the first place! She's innocent, and you repaid her by throwing her to the wolves. He helped her, and you accused him of joining the Sith! The Sith! Obi-Wan Kenobi!"

"Skywalker, calm yourself!"

Pure fury flamed through him. "Calm?" he spat and, just for a moment, he thought he saw Windu's eyes widen a little. "You have no right - no right! -" remembered pain burned through his gut. "What. Did. You. Do?!"

He almost thought he saw Windu swallow. But that was ridiculous: Windu didn't care about anything but the code. Or maybe he was afraid of Anakin? Fierce pleasure rushed through him. Windu deserved to be afraid.

"Kenobi has a lightsaber wound through his gut."

And the flames extinguished, just like that. _Lightsaber through the gut._ Unbidden, an image of Qui-Gon Jinn lying on his funeral pyre just before it was lit surfaced. _Lightsaber through the gut._ There had been a hole, charred around the edges, perfectly circular. Obi-Wan had seen Anakin staring at it, and gently moved the corpses' tunic sleeves to cover the hole. If not for the fact that he hadn't been breathing, and the feeling of _wrongness_, he could have been asleep, then.

The thought of doing the same for Obi-Wan made him feel sick. _No. Oh Force, no._

_He's alive. I felt him be wounded, I would have felt him die_. "I'm coming back."

"Knight Skywalker-"

Windu trailed off, holding Anakin's hard stare, sighed, and nodded.

As Anakin started up his shuttle and informed the command that he was leaving again, he turned it over in his mind. The culprit had been caught. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, who had both had death sentences on their heads, were still alive. The Jedi no longer thought that they had Turned to the Dark side.

Obi-Wan, who classed something as a success if it "achieved the objective", would count this as a success, if a hard fought one.

Anakin wasn't so sure. Obi-Wan would be right that the rescue was a success, but it shouldn't have been necessary in the first place. The whole thing shouldn't have happened. And his Master and Padawan were no longer a part of the Jedi order.

Jumping to hyperspace, he realised that he wasn't sure if he wanted to be a part of it either.

**Next Chapter: is the epilogue, not a chapter. Obi-Wan wakes up in the halls of healing. (It is also quite a bit more optimistic than a post-realisation Mace Windu and an extremely upset and worried Anakin Skywalker. Not that **_**that's**_** particularly hard.)**


	29. Epilogue

Epilogue

Obi-Wan woke slowly, knowing that he'd managed to get injured again. His body was aching disconsolately, and there was an over-clean, disinfectant smell.

He tried to shift, to get more comfortable, and a sharp stab lanced through his lower abdomen. He stilled with a slight groan. What had happened? He'd been on some distant planet, the fighting complicated by neutral systems wanting to not get involved and necessitating longer time in hyperspace to get around them - no. The Temple. Something to do with the Temple…

Bomb. Trial. The Exception.

The images rushed into his mind, and he struggled to get his eyes open. They'd broken into the Temple. He'd been stabbed - had he bought enough time? No - there had been an explosion - but he hadn't sensed as many people die as an explosion with a power corresponding to the noise the blast had made would normally kill…

Mace looking horrified. Yoda's voice, loud, shouting? They'd known, known the truth. He was still alive.

His eyes cracked open, the lids thick and sticky with gunk. He squinted up at the ceiling, wondering how long he'd been out.

Wait. They'd known about him. Ahsoka? Had they realised Ahsoka was innocent? And Ventress, what had happened to her?

"Obi-Wan?"

The voice sounded about as groggy as he felt, but he still recognised it, and a powerful wave of relief swept through him. Ahsoka. She was all right

Hang on. That smell - this was the healers. What state was she in? Gathering his energy, he turned his head to the side. Ahsoka was scrambling off the other bed in the room.

"Obi-Wan!" she exclaimed as she saw his movement, eyes wide with pure relief. "You woke up!"

Well, yes. He was feeling rather terrible at the moment and wasn't quite sure he wouldn't have preferred to stay unconscious, but he was awake all the same.

She was at his side in a flash, babbling urgently. "Farai - the Padawan of the Healer in charge of you at the moment - said that his Master'd said it was too serious to use just one bacta immersion given how exhausted you were, something about the strain healing takes on the body, I didn't really get that part, but they said that they wouldn't put you in the tank again until you woke up, and you nearly lost a kidney, he said they were talking about taking you into surgery at one point…"

_That serious?_ He thought, startled, then mentally kicked himself. He'd had a lightsaber through the gut. That was slightly more than just a flesh wound.

She trailed off, looking more scared at the prospect of him being operated on than she really should have. Some might have written it off as her not wanting to lose him after he'd helped her escape death, and he was sure that was part of it, but the Force was nudging him to look deeper, sluggish though his perception was with the remnants of drugs in his system.

He rather wanted to ask how long he'd been out, but that could wait. The words were sandpaper in his throat as he rasped, "What's wrong?"

She gave a vaguely frightened look towards one of the walls - two-way, he realised, just what position were they in here? He recognised this room: it was for keeping badly wounded prisoners - and his sense of something being wrong increased exponentially as she poured a cup of water, levered the top half of the bed up a bit, and gave it to him. He sipped it gratefully. "They'll hear."

Whatever it was was clearly causing her a lot of worry…and she didn't want the Jedi to hear it. He gave her a look of concern. "Whisper." He couldn't help if he didn't know what it was.

She did, right by his ear, so quiet that even at that range he had to enhance his hearing with the Force to make out what she was saying, her hands directing the sound and blocking any attempt at lip-reading. "Barriss said that the Jedi had become an army fighting for the Dark side of the Force. I didn't believe her, but then Ventress, just before she left, said…she said that that was the Sith's plan, that the Clone Wars was to corrupt the Jedi Order into the next Sith Brotherhood."

Stunned, Obi-Wan slumped back. Ahsoka gave him an almost desperate look. "Do you think…?"

None of the Jedi had _known_ what the reason the Sith had started the Clone wars was. The general assumption was that they were attempting to take over the Galaxy using the Separatist cause, there was some suspicion of a back-up plan involving a Sith in the Senate prompted by Dooku's words to him on Geonosis, but no one knew what part the Jedi played in those plans, other than being eradicated though the war. He swallowed, remembering. Several Jedi had Fallen throughout the war, his predecessor on the Council, Depa Billiba, among them.

Ventress had been Dooku's apprentice. It was certainly possible that she'd been in on the Sith's plans before their betrayal of her.

But this…

Rules being bent, ethics becoming more malleable, distasteful necessity becoming more important that possible implications of some ways of using the Force…those were the consequences of war, for the Jedi Order.

He felt sick. Because what Ahsoka had said, what Ventress had told her - it was far, far too possible.

Some of his thoughts must have shown on his face, as Ahsoka's lekku paled drastically - as badly as they had when she'd learned about a full third of the council showing up in the underworld to hunt them down. She curled up in the chair by his bed, one hand going to the empty lightsaber clips on her belt. Partially just to move the conversation away from the disturbing information, at least long enough for him to let the shock fade so he could process it, he asked where they went.

Her mouth tightened, bleakly humorous. "We're seeking asylum."

In the Jedi Temple. From the Republic.

A soft, incredulous laugh escaped him. The Republic _did_ recognise the right of the Jedi Order to accept asylum seekers as long as they were turned over to the relevant authority for evaluation, which was generally the Republic courts, although it hadn't been used for centuries. In this case, as he and Ahsoka were both former Jedi, the relevant authority was the Jedi. "I suppose that went over well?"

"Oh, _brilliantly_." A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, relief at having at least shared Ventress' information colouring the Force around her. "And Ventress did give your lightsaber back, in case you were wondering."

He'd thought she would, but it was nice to have it confirmed. "She got her own ones back, I take it?"

The hint of a smile vanished. "Yeah. Barriss had them."

Ah.

He looked at her. She looked a lot better for having had the chance to wash up and get clean clothes - but her arm was back in a sling, her eyes were shadowed with lack of sleep, and there was a certain tense alertness about her that should have faded now they were no longer running for their lives, but hadn't. He waited patiently, letting her gather her thoughts, not pushing.

"They've got her in custody," she said eventually, her voice quiet. "Jedi custody. Farai said a mind healer asked to take a look at her for a psychological evaluation, and she'll probably be tried alongside us." She raised her hand, and a datapad flew to it from the small table beside her bed. A few taps, and the holonet feature was active - download only, he noticed – and showing him various pages as she talked through what had happened. "After the alarms were switched off, the Senate and GAR were demanding to know what happened, and whether it was related to the search, etcetera. Once they learned we were here, they were demanding our immediate executions and a manhunt for Ventress, though they dropped the manhunt idea once they and Windu got arguing about trials and `new evidence contradictory to the conclusion previously reached` and `the necessity of re-evaluation` and it seems to have been completely forgotten in the wake of the storm of bantha poodoo that was unleashed by my claiming asylum for the pair of us, and Anakin…" Her eyes hardened. Obi-Wan winced. For the love of the Force, what had happened now?

"Have you heard from him?"

"Not directly." She folded her arms tightly. "He decided to leave the Order in protest."

"…What!?" He tried to force himself upright; collapsed back with an involuntary grunt. _Deep breaths_. That hurt, so he settled for slower shallow ones. "He's gone and done _what?"_

"He left." Her shrug was casual, a direct contrast to the stoniness of her voice.

And this wasn't because of what Ventress claimed the Sith were planning for the Jedi Order, since Ahsoka appeared to have been waiting on a second opinion before she made any decision on telling that. "I don't suppose you know whether he's thought this through completely?"

"_He_ thinks he has." Her expression spoke volumes. "He announced to the press this morning that he's thought through all the implications, and stands by his decision." She brought up an interview Anakin had apparently done a few hours ago.

"He's moved into Senator Amidala's apartment," she added. This time, his groan had nothing to do with pain. _Anakin…_

"I see."

She made a sound somewhere between chocking and coughing. Through the Force, it felt oddly like a pained laugh. "You noticed?"

"Of course not," he countered dryly. "…Though it takes quite a bit of effort on my part to keep it that way, at times."

This time, the brief impression of laughter was less pained.

The conversation receded into a comfortable silence, until Obi-Wan felt himself start to fall asleep again. There were still things they needed to go through. "You mentioned a trial."

"Before the Jedi Council." She rested her chin on her knees. "They've promised it'll be fair. The GAR wasn't happy, but after it hundreds of eyewitness accounts that Barriss was involved they couldn't exactly deny that they'd missed something, and it was only a short step from that, to the conclusion that someone else should hold it this time. They still made a serious attempt at getting hold of it, though."

Fair. Despite everything, he believed that promise. If the Council hadn't been willing to give them a fair trial, they wouldn't have fought to hold one, wouldn't have allowed Ahsoka to claim asylum and become an issue between the Jedi Order and the Republic.

He stifled a yawn. "I'm assuming the senate didn't get there fast enough?"

"I think they were mostly just watching to see what happened." She smirked a little. "Well, that and informing each other what they thought should happen in loud voices near reporters."

That did sound like the Senate.

"Do you think we should tell them?"

He knew what she was talking about instantly, and turned it over in his mind. He knew what his gut instinct was. After all that had happened though, he wouldn't feel comfortable making a decision of this sort without reasoning it out.

"It's not just about the Council," he murmured eventually. "There's thousands of Jedi in the war effort, bending morals and ethics, putting duty over compassion and orders over the Force because we've all been losing the ability to _hear_ the Force. And everyone's paid dearly for the war, whether they had something to do with decisions that led to this or not." He sighed. "At least some of it's my fault. I was on the Council, and we were bombarded by decisions between bad and worse. And we choose the bad."

She shifted uncomfortably. He shrugged. "Our fate is in the Council's hands right now. A bad reaction to the information could hurt us. But if we don't take that chance and warn them, then the Order runs the risk of tipping over the edge because it didn't know it was so close to it in the first place."

Ahsoka was quiet, biting her lip. "Yeah...and it'd be the entire order..." she swallowed. "You know I was assigned to take the kids to Ilum?"

Wondering where she was going with this, he nodded. It had been a great honour, marking her ascension to senior Padawan status: a huge achievement for one so young, even with the earlier promotions that occurred in wartime.

"Well, I don't want - they were great kids. You met them at the end, I told you about the adventure we had, and…great kids. I wouldn't want to see them…" her voice broke, and she trailed off.

"It'll be fine." His voice broke too, just a little. "Somehow." The memory of closing a man's artery with the Force come back to him, and he repressed a shudder as it was followed by the memory of him and Ventress interrogating the terrorist leader. "We'll make it be fine."

It was a ridiculous promise. It made them both feel that bit better anyway.

The situation wasn't perfect. But the truth was out, the Jedi were back on their side, and they had a chance to fix the things that had been broken. There were so many of them…but they had a chance. For now, it was enough.

He drifted off to sleep a little less troubled than he had been upon waking.

_Finis_

**A.N. First, my sincere apologies for the delay. School started, and I caught something that left me ill for several days, (I'm fine now,) so I've alternately been working on school stuff and sleeping/too tired to concentrate on anything.**

**Second, for all those that have been asking: yes, I am planning on doing a sequel at some point. Not right away, but there will be one.**

**Regarding Ahsoka being a Senior Padawan – I'm pretty sure that Jedi in peacetime don't get solo missions until they're Senior Padawan's or close to it. In wartime the standard for solo missions would out of necessity be lower, so her mission on Onderon might not be an accurate indicator of whether she held the rank or not, but given she was entrusted with a bunch of children to look after on the way to and from Ilum, I'm inclined to say she did.**

**Last, but**** the furthest thing from least**, a huge, huge thank you for all the support you've given me in writing this with, as always, a special mention and hugs for everyone who's reviewed. *hugs reviewers* Writing this has been a wonderful experience.  



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